In-Reply-To: <48A020E1942E024DB0F2A6B68A1312440773A457A5**At_Symbol_Here**XEDAMAIL2.ex.ad3.ucdavis.edu>
There was a fairly good
article on the topic in MIT's Tech Review not too long ago.
Subscription only (MIT alumni get the magazine for free); here's
the URL for those who can access it through school/corporate
libraries:
You basically have self-trained folks working
with stuff like liquid nitrogen (which is, incidentally, how Dippin'
Dots ice cream is made) and other such novelties....eventually someone
is gonna screw up. The article cited below is clearly sketchy,
but one can suppose that if someone was handling a closed container of
liquid N2 that yeah, they could severely injure
themselves.
Original report is apparently here,
in German:
Google
translation:
<
div>
Looks like only one lost/shredded hand.....the
original report apparently indicated the wrong
hand.
Rob Toreki
On Jul 15, 2009, at 11:18 AM,
Debbie M. Decker wrote:
Excuse the
cross-postings:
This tidbit is from our food safety officer. =46rom
this piece, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. I did a
bit of digging - here=92s a wiki entry on the concept: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_gastronomy But no
more information about this incident than
below.
Have any of you heard of this?
Do any of you might have some insight on how this incident might
have occurred? We have a large and active Food Science department
and they=92re always coming up with new ways to produce food. We
would like to be able to head them off from something dangerous before
we have a similar incident.
Thanks for your speculation and
input.
Debbie
---------------------
Debbie M. Decker, Campus Chemical Safety
Officer
Environmental Health and Safety
University of California, Davis
1 Shields
Ave.
Davis, CA 95616
(530)754-7964/(530)752-4
527 (FAX)
dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**ucdavis.edu
Co-Conspirator to Make the World A
Better
Place -- Visit www.HeroicStories.com and join the
conspiracy
From: Susan Cummings
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 5:05
PM
To: Debbie M.
Decker
Subject: Experimental cook blows
hands off trying molecular
gastronomy
GERMANY: Experimental cook blows hands off trying molecular
gastronomy
14.jul.09
Sydney Morning Herald
AFP
http://www.smh.com.au/world/experimental-cook-blows-hands-off-trying-mol
ecular-gastronomy-20090714-dj0r.html
An experimental German cook
accidentally blew off both his hands attempting to concoct a "molecular
gastronomy" dish with liquid nitrogen, a newspaper report said on
Monday.
The 24-year-old man from Stahnsdorf near Berlin somehow obtained some of
the dangerous chemical and was poised to try out a new recipe from the
school of molecular cooking, which aims to apply scientific processes to
gastronomy.
There was an "enormous explosion", according to the
Berliner Morgenpost daily.
The man lost one hand in the explosion and
the other was so badly injured it had to be amputated.
The man, who
was staying at his girlfriend's mother's house, was rushed to hospital
where his condition was described as life-threatening. He is on
artifical respiration.
He claimed he was trying to fill a gas
lighter, but his girlfriend said he was trying to empty a canister of
liquid nitrogen.
