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Today, we're going to take a look at some food-related catastrophes in history
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On January 15, 1919, a steel tank holding more than 2 million gallons of molasses broke open
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sending a wave of the sticky sweet liquid through the streets of Boston's North End
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Buildings crumbled, vehicles overturned, and humans and animals alike were trapped or simply asphyxiated by the substance
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The final toll grew to 21 total lives lost in the muck. The Irish potato famine was an unspeakable tragedy that claimed a million lives
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Failed potato crops and unjust policies concerning the export of food to England
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deprived hundreds of thousands of Irish residents of essential nourishment throughout the 1840s and 1850s
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Researchers have since determined the blight was caused by Phytothora infestans, a pathogen believed to have originated in South America
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The trade policies that contributed to all the deaths, however, originated right there in the UK
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Beer made by Dow was among the most popular kinds of beer in Canada during the 1960s, eh
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But nothing lasts forever and the Quebec City-based brewery took a big hit to its reputation after putting a bunch of beer drinkers on ice
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We are referring to the tainted beer crisis of 1966 when nearly 20 customers of Dow beer experienced cardiomyopathy a potentially lethal form of heart disease Later research into Dow beer revealed that the syndrome appeared a month after the addition of cobalt sulfate to stabilize the foam 16 people perished during the tainted beer crisis
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A clerk at the Horseshoe Brewery in London checked the vats on October 17, 1814 and found a broken
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piece of metal meant to reinforce the wooden structures. Within the hour, the vat exploded
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A chain reaction began among all the vats at the brewery, and ultimately, hundreds of thousands of gallons of beer overtook the streets of St. Giles' Rookery
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Eight people perished in what was later determined to be an act of God
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The colza, also known as rapeseed oil, had been slated for industrial use, but was instead sold as olive oil and then consumed by roughly 20,000 Spaniards during the early 1980s
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approximately 300 people perished as a result, with about 1,000 others developing chronic health conditions
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On May 2, 1878, the Washburn A. Mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was rocked by a series of explosions that sent flames and debris soaring into the sky like a firework show
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The blast and accompanying flames eradicated all 14 men working at the mill
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with another four perishing as the fire spread to nearby mills. In 1875, alcohol from some 5,000 barrels of whiskey burst open due to the heat, erupted
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into flames, and burned everything in its path in the Liberty's area of central Dublin
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The blaze caused an immense amount of damage. Luckily though, nobody perished
