Death by Chocolate - How Chocolate Chips Might Get Contaminated
The media is reporting the tragic death of Vincent Smith. As Mr. Smith was emptying pieces of solid chocolate into the melting vat at Cocoa Services, he slipped from a platform into the eight-foot deep mixing unit.
A spokesman for the local prosecutor's office said Mr. Smith appeared to have died instantly from a blow to his head by a paddle mixing the chocolate.
Co-workers at the factory tried to shut down the mixer, but were too late. Mr. Smith was a temporary worker at the Cocoa Services Inc plant in the city of Camden.
Although there appears to be no link between this company and the Nestle Cookie Dough E. coli Outbreak, it does raise a question – “If a man can fall into a vat of chocolate, it seems possible that other contaminates – like E. coli – could get in too?”
It is a rather commonly known fact that upon death, one's body loses the normally clenched muscle tension in one's sphincter. If the bowels were full at the time, it would be expected that an expulsion of fecal matter would be released into the vat of chocolate.
In summary, I would hope Cocoa Services would dispose of this particular batch, if not for this scientific reason, then out of respect for the deceased.