52 dead after drinking beer in Mozambique

[DU99]

Contaminated traditional beer has killed 52 people in Mozambique, health authorities say.
An additional 51 people were admitted to hospitals in the Chitima and Songo districts in the northeastern Tete province, and 146 more people have reported to hospitals to be examined for the poisoning, district health official Alex Albertini told Radio Mozambique.
Those who drank the contaminated brew were attending a funeral in the region on Saturday, Albertini said.
Pombe, a traditional Mozambican beer, is made from millet or corn flour. Authorities believe that the drink was poisoned with crocodile bile during the course of the funeral.
Blood and traditional beer samples were being sent to the capital Maputo to be tested, said provincial health director Carle Mosse.
"We don't have the capacity to test the samples," she told Radio Mozambique.

Mourners who drank the beer in the morning reported no illness, while those who drank the beer in the afternoon, fell ill, authorities said. They believe the beer must have been poisoned while funeral goers were at the cemetery.
The woman who brewed the beer is also among the dead.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Doesn't just have to be contaminated traditional beer.

http://diamondnewsnetwork.com/lose-your-bottle-protect-your-liver/

 

[dcan6303]

Probably a no-chill gone wrong

 

[Grott]

Probably a no-chill gone wrong

No comment to that crap.

 

[Airgead]

Contaminated with crocodile bile.... Seriously?

Must have been intentional. Maybe its supposed to do something, maybe they thought it would increase the strength. Maybe someone was actually trying to poison them. I have no idea how you could accidentally contaminate something with crocodile bile. It doesn't sound like the kind of thing you just happen to have lying around.

I'm treading Sandor Katz's Art of Fermentation and he goes into a lot of detail on these traditional millet beers. They are spontaneous fermentations of essentially thin millet (or other grain) porridge. A "lumpy and gritty texture" is considered essential. I'm not sure I'll be adding one to my brew schedule. Particularly not one with added crocodile bile.

 

[stux]

Old news, but I bumped into this and found it interesting:

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-10/two-dead-two-critical-after-drinking-bad-home-brew-grappa/4743090

 

[Feldon]

There was a story a few years ago about a woman who entered a beer in a homebrew competition in the US. She got some good reviews of it until she told the judges that it had been partly fermented with her vaginal yeast.

 

[Airgead]

Original Pussy Beer. It was a "conceptial art" project by someone called Toi Senhauser.

http://www.toisennhauser.com/work

She has also served patrons deep fried underpants.

 

[wereprawn]

Original Pussy Beer. It was a "conceptial art" project by someone called Toi Senhauser.

http://www.toisennhauser.com/work

She has also served patrons deep fried underpants.

That type of yeast is better eaten au naturale.

 

[wynnum1]

commercial-in-confidence

 

[Lodan]

Now 69 dead
what a tragedy
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/01/13/00/42/poisoned-beer-in-mozambique-kills-69

 

[HBHB]

NOTE TO SELF: Self, don't put crocodile bile into a beer.

Duely noted.

 

[paulyman]

Why do we keep believing rubbish journalism?

A quick search.

http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/crocodilebile.asp

 

[manticle]

I have been looking for references on the toxic nature of croc bile and found nothing other than documentation of a belief that it is so.

Very sceptical about this, above link makes me think that's justified.

 

[HBHB]

So putting Troll teeth into a beer isn't likely to cause harm. What about getting the teeth in the first place. Sounds hazardous.

 

[Airgead]

Yep.looks like it's a local superstition and it's used by witches to kill people. Supposedly so toxic it kills anyone who comes into contact with it. So witchcraft involving crocodile bile is blamed for any mass death probably caused by food poisoning.

 

[wynnum1]

Paraquat lot of suicides with this weed killer still used in Australia bet its easy to get in Mozambique

 

[stm]

So the correct headline should be: 52 dead after drinking poison in Mozambique.

 

[Feldon]

So its just a lot of crock then.

 

[Airgead]

The crocodile bile bit yes, the dead people, no.