Chemical contamination can occur and chemical poisoning is rare and usually caused by negligence. for example - storing cleaning products, pesticides, in unlabelled food containers, or empty chemical containers to store food.

The food standards agency have over the years had to withdraw products from the shelves to protect the population once the problem is identified .

A couple of cases , June 2008 The food standards agency advised that rice milk not be used for infants, or replace breast milk , or baby milk as there was unacceptable levels of arsenic contained in the product.

In 2005 the food standards agency recalled over 600 products after discovering that a red dye ( sudan1) that was used for polish and solvents had found its way into chilli powder used to make Worcestershire sauce, which was then used to make lots of different products. The dye was considered to be carcinogenic ( meaning to cause cancer!)

​

Chemical additives for food use go through rigorous testing and licencing in the UK and E.U . But this does not mean that in large quantities they are not harmful to health . eg Monosodium glutamate, titanium , carbon ,bixin,food colour

​

​