This was the favorite part of my job – investigating something that sounded terrible, but turned out to have a reasonable explanation
Sprout, not maggot. Someone eating chili found what they thought were maggots. It turned out to be from beans that had sprouted. The biggest one in the photo is one half inch long.
Defective or watered-down beer
In the past, the crimped metal crown caps on some glass bottles could be twisted off and then twisted back on securely without leaving any visual evidence. Apparently an underage kid helped himself to beer kept in the house, then refilled the bottles with water and replaced the caps. Later, Dad opened a bottle and detected an unusual taste and a sulfur smell. Closer exam in the lab showed the bottles weren’t filled to the exact same level, as would happen at the brewery. Chemical exam showed the diluted contents were less than 10% beer. The remaining ingredients started to spoil after the tampering (mouth backwash, non-sterile tap water and access to oxygen after the carbonation was gone). The Coors representative who communicated with me seemed to have dealt with this many times. Their lab could detect if it was their own (“brewed with pure Rocky Mountain”) spring water based on the anion content. I believe they would also look at other analytes and parameters if necessary.
Band-Aid in lasagna
acetaldehyde smell from plastic water bottle
mold on chocolate?
broken glass or calcium carbonate crystals?
mold pellicles (mushroom-size and texture)
solvent odors
High levels of pesticides in Coke/Pepsi etc in India ~2005
soapy taste – can come from increased free fatty acids, especially lauric acid from coconut
black specks in powdered infant formula
chloroform in a hot morning shower (tap water issue)
droppings
Dan Harring (54) 