The Major Soup Recall That Left One Consumer Paralyzed

Soup recalls can affect millions of people at a time. Some of the more notable examples from recent memory have involved pulling large amounts of chicken soup from store shelves. However, these kinds of incidents have a long history, and unfortunately, the number of people who get sick is not always zero. One especially infamous recall involves a rather uncommon product — vichyssoise, a thick French dish made with potatoes, leeks, and onions which can be served cold. It's a vintage soup that restaurants rarely make anymore and is even harder to find canned in grocery stores.

In the 1970s, when the soup was more accessible, it was tied to a fatal case of poisoning. During the summer of 1971, a company called Bon Vivant had to recall several thousand cans of vichyssoise because they were suspected of containing a botulism toxin. Not long before the recall, a husband and wife in Westchester County just north of New York City fell dangerously ill — the man ended up dying, and the wife survived but was left paralyzed. Both tragedies were traced back to their consumption of Bon Vivant vichyssoise soup. The couple never finished it because they thought it tasted off. Still, within hours, they were rushed to the hospital.

At the time, the poisoned vichyssoise generated multiple headlines. Only a few cans were actually confirmed to contain the toxin, but the FDA soon found that Bon Vivant's food safety standards were unacceptably low and cracked down. The agency removed more than a million cans of the company's soup, and Bon Vivant's processing plant in New Jersey was shut down entirely. The incident is also the reason you've likely never heard of Bon Vivant soups: The company fought against the FDA in court, and it briefly tried filing for bankruptcy and changing its name to Moore and Co. The ploy didn't work, and the company's soup stock was destroyed.

Nowadays, you might be more likely to hear about recalls triggered by undeclared allergens in food. While instances of botulism don't happen as often, this contamination poses a severe risk. It's caused by a dangerous bacteria called Clostridium botulinum, which can attack your nervous system and cause extremely dangerous symptoms like breathing difficulties and muscle paralysis. Even if the vichyssoise incident has faded from public memory, it remains a notable event in the history of the food safety industry.