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In 1858 in Bradford, England, 200 people became ill from eating peppermint lozenges.聽聽Unfortunately, 18 of them died within a week.聽聽The cause?聽聽Arsenic poisoning!聽聽At the time calcium sulfate (Plaster of Paris) was commonly added to peppermint lozenges as a whitening agent.聽聽One day, a druggist鈥檚 assistant was making up a batch of the candies and tragically added the wrong powder.聽聽Arsenic oxide, which was sold as a rat poison ended up in the lozenges!聽聽Partly as a result of this episode, the British government passed the Food and Drug Adulteration Act of 1860 which was designed to regulate food safety.聽聽One of the first additives that was approved was calcium sulfate!