The 1971 Bon Vivant botulism case was one of the few cases of foodborne botulism to occur from commercial food processing.
History
On July 2, 1971, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a public warning after learning that a Westchester County, New York man had died and his wife had become seriously ill from botulism after partly eating a can of Bon Vivant vichyssoise soup.
The company began a recall of the 6,444 cans of vichyssoise soup made in the same batch as the can known to be contaminated. The FDA then said that the company's processing practices made questionable all products packed by the company and extended the recall to include all Bon Vivant soup – more than a million cans in all. The FDA ordered the shutdown of the company's Newark, New Jersey, plant on July 7, 1971. Five cans of soup out of 324 were found to be contaminated with botulinum toxin, all in the initial batch of vichyssoise that was recalled.
The recall destroyed public confidence in the Bon Vivant name. Since Bon Vivant also marketed some of its production as store brands, this led many people to be suspicious of any soup on grocery store shelves. The company filed for bankruptcy within a month of the start of the recall, and changed its business name to Moore & Co.
The FDA resolved to destroy the company's stock of canned soup, but the company fought the proposed action in court until 1974. It wanted to resell the seized soup under the company's new name.