In spite of all our differences, the one thing that binds all living creatures is that we each have an expiration date. This finality to our existence is what makes life special, something to be cherished and protected. But occasionally things can go terribly wrong…
A typo in a cake recipe in a Swedish food magazine poisoned four people and sent them to the hospital. Publishers recalled all 10,000 copies of their Matmagasinet food magazine, sent a warning letter to its 50,000 subscribers, and placed a leaflet in store copies.
"There was a mistake in a recipe for apple cake. Instead of calling for two pinches of nutmeg it said 20 nutmeg nuts were needed," said Matmagasinet’s Chief Editor Ulla Cocke. "At first we thought this would be enough, because we didn’t really think anyone would bake or eat this cake, since so much nutmeg would give it a horrible, bitter taste, and because it is simply not that easy to get hold of that much nutmeg," Cocke said. But when the publishers discovered that people had actually eaten and been poisoned by the cake, they immediately recalled all copies of the magazine issue.
Four adults ate one cake made from this recipe and experienced severe dizziness and headaches, but all are expected to recover.
"We publish 1,200 recipes each year, and of course there have been times when they’ve had a bit too much butter or too little flour, but we have never experienced anything like this before," Cocke told AFP.
