CGA issues liquid nitrogen safety alert

The Compressed Gas Association (CGA) is again seeking to bring attention to the hazards of liquid nitrogen in the food and beverage industry.

The association has today issued a safety alert, Hazards of Liquid Nitrogen in the Food and Beverage Industry, (CGA SA‐25).

The alert was originally released in 2013 in response to a report of severe injury to a woman in England (UK) who consumed a drink that contained liquid nitrogen and is being re-released in response to a report of a similar incident that occurred recently in Miami, US.

The safety alert should be read by owners, operators, and employees of restaurants, bars, and other establishments where liquid nitrogen is used in food and beverage preparation and consumption.

The safety alert is free and may be copied and distributed.

Comment

A number of alerts and calls to action have been made concerning the use and portrayal of gases in fashionable food and beverages in recent years.

Indeed, the Chief Executive of the British Compressed Gas Association (BCGA), Doug Thornton, has previously said to gasworld, “I am critical of anything or anyone that tries to encourage others to play with gases, with little understanding of the hazards of cryo temperatures, pressure or asphyxiation potential.”

“And anything that encourages the public to track it down is terrible news…putting liquid nitrogen or solid CO2 in drinks is an extremely bad idea.”

Source: Gasworld

CGA Alert: HAZARDS OF LIQUID NITROGEN IN THE FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

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Warning About Liquid Nitrogen in Cocktails

A official warning about liquid nitrogen in cocktails was issued Monday by the Food Standards Agency of the United Kingdom.

Her Majesty’s government went public with the warning after virtually every news outlet in the UK had made much of the same sad story.

A young woman out celebrating her 18th birthday at Oscar’s wine bar in Lancaster city center did not know that you nurse a cocktail, especially one still smoking from being prepared with liquid nitrogen. Instead, she apparently drank it too quickly.

It was not long before Gaby Scanlon from Heysham, Lancashire was feeling breathless, her stomach hurting.

By 11 p.m. last Thursday, doctors at the Lancaster Royal Infirmary had found her stomach was perforated, and they immediately operated to remove most of it.

Without the emergency surgery, the young woman would have most certainly died.

Continue reading at: Food Safety News

Phoenix Fire CO2 Incident Review

High Pressure CO2 tank explosion destroys 700 gallon aquarium

According to the TV news station KOIN, a CO2 tank located in a shed attached to a house in a Sandy, Oregon exploded due to a fire. The explosion reportedly launched the CO2 tank into a massive 700 gallon aquarium in the adjacent house, breaking it and unfortunately killing its livestock. The news report does not detail the type of aquarium or whether the CO2 tank was used for the aquarium.

Source: Advanced Aquarist

Old fashion, high pressure CO2 cylinder explodes at Michigan bar

The afternoon of June 25 was pretty much like any other for Dorothy Sullivan and the patrons of her Eastpointe bar.

Until the building exploded.
“Everybody thought a bomb went off,” said Sullivan, who owns the bar of the same name on Nine Mile Road. “… It blew up two or three rooms.”

No bomb detonated, but the results were similar when a C02 (carbon dioxide) tank exploded. The pressurized containers are devices that put carbonation in drinks. They’re used mostly by bar and restaurant owners as part of their normal operations.

But the exploding tank was anything but normal. Sullivan estimated damages to her bar at $100,000, and the incident drew the attention of local and federal authorities, who have launched an investigation.

“It was impressive to see (the damage caused),” said Ed Szymanski, acting Eastpointe fire chief. “The bar was pretty crowded at the time, but fortunately (customers) were at the front end of the bar.”

While the exploding tank seemed an isolated incident, Szymanski said, he didn’t sleep well at the prospect of more tanks at more establishments throughout southeastern Michigan. The following day, he contacted the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. That agency oversees the transport of CO2 containers.

“I wanted to know why (the tank blew up),” Szymanski said.

A federal investigator was dispatched from Chicago to look into the incident. His investigation revealed the CO2 tank was delivered to Sullivan’s by North American Coil and Beverage Group Inc., also based in Eastpointe, Szymanski said.

The tank in question was manufactured in the 1970s and records indicated it had not been tested in many years. Regulations call for testing every five to seven years, Szymanski said.

Perhaps most disturbing to the chief: Federal officials estimated hundreds, and perhaps thousands of similar tanks delivered by North American Coil and Beverage are still in operation.

“They’re spread out from here to Toledo,” the chief said. “Probably none of these have been properly tested … I don’t want to see anybody get hurt.”

Officials from North American Coil and Beverage could not be reached for comment, but Szymanski said the company has cooperated with authorities to help track down the cylinders and get them out of circulation.

Szymanski sent out mass emails to every public safety agency he could think of to spread the word of the potential dangers.

Federal authorities have taken no action yet, but they hope to conclude their investigation and issue a report soon, possibly “by the end of the week,” said Jeannie Layson, spokeswoman for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Meanwhile, Sullivan’s remains open, but Sullivan acknowledged, “It’s been hard.”

But she also considers herself and her customers fortunate.

“We were lucky in this bar,” she said.

Source: Daily Tribune