Product tampering

DEFINITION: Adulteration of consumer products with foreign substances that may cause serious harm, even risk of death, to those who use the products.

SIGNIFICANCE: The absence of witnesses and the potential for broad public harm make product tampering one of the most challenging types of crimes for law-enforcement agencies to investigate. In such cases, it is important for authorities to determine quickly the extent of the tampering and the danger to the public at the same time they are working to identify suspects and remove any tainted products from stores.

Product tampering first became a public concern in the United States in September 1982, when someone deliberately poisoned Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules with cyanide, leading to seven deaths in Chicago, Illinois. Subsequent laws such as the 1983 and 1994 Federal Anti-tampering Acts made product tampering a federal crime. Because these kinds of crimes typically have few witnesses, law-enforcement investigators must rely on physical in tracking down suspects. They also face the task of determining where the tampering occurred. Most cases of product tampering involve foods and over-the-counter medicines that can be easily accessed at supermarkets or drugstores. After the deaths, Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Tylenol, worked with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop tamper-proof packaging.

The motives for product tampering vary. Some perpetrators are motivated by the desire to create panic by killing members of the public, whereas others use tampering as a means of extortion, threatening to poison products unless particular demands are met. Still others use product tampering to commit for gain, such as to collect a victim’s life insurance.

Initial Response

Under the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) and the antitampering legislation passed in the early 1980s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the responsibility for investigating all cases of product tampering in the United States. When a case of tampering is reported, federal investigators descend on the retail outlet where the adulterated product was purchased or discovered to collect physical evidence.

All containers of suspect products are handled carefully to protect fingerprint evidence, because often those who commit this type of crime purchase certain products, take them to a private place to adulterate them, and then manage to get the products returned to the retail shelves. To protect the public, investigators usually remove all similar products from relevant locations and have them tested for contamination.

Narrowing the Investigation

Because product tampering can occur at the manufacturing, distribution, or retail level, investigators must examine each possibility. They must determine whether a case of tampering is limited to a single package, to packages at a particular retail outlet, or to an entire brand across an extensive geographic area.

Investigators may be aided by the footage from surveillance cameras at retail outlets. Given that it is known that some perpetrators purchase products, tamper with them, and then return them to the shelves, video evidence that a person has made repeated visits to a store and has been in the vicinity of the adulterated product can point to that person as a suspect. Computerized tracking of products sold in stores can also provide valuable information to investigators regarding when a tampered product was purchased and if it was returned to a store.

In 1993, false claims were made that syringes were being found in cans of Pepsi-Cola in Seattle, Washington, and then in other cities across the United States. Photos from a in a supermarket revealed the first incident to be a hoax; a woman could be seen opening a Pepsi can and slipping a syringe into it. She later claimed that she discovered the needle after she purchased the soft drink. This evidence tipped off investigators that other claims of tampering involving Pepsi cans might also be hoaxes.

Psychological is another forensic tool used by investigators of product tampering. Such profiling can narrow the probable range of suspects according to age, gender, socioeconomic status, and educational background. The level of knowledge and chemical sophistication needed to succeed in the type of contamination committed can also add to a profile.

What and When

Investigators must quickly determine what foreign substance was added to an adulterated product so that they can locate possible sources for the poison and attempt to track down any persons who recently purchased it. During the 1991 investigation of the poisoning of Sudafed capsules in Washington State, an incident that resulted in the deaths of two people, investigators identified the type of cyanide used to contaminate the pills. They then were able to trace the cyanide back to a distributor and then to the husband of one of the victims, who had purchased the cyanide in order to place it in his wife’s medication.

Another crucial part of the investigation of product tampering is the determination of when the adulterating material was added to the product. Generally, chemical contaminants that are added to a product will change as they interact with the chemicals in the product. The rate of of the contaminant within the product thus provides clues regarding when the contaminant was added. Laboratory tests using spectroscopy can identify decomposition and narrow the period when the product was poisoned.

When contaminants are physical rather than chemical in nature, such as syringes in the Pepsi tampering hoaxes, investigators examine that evidence to find differences and similarities in the types of contaminants. In the Pepsi hoaxes, investigators discovered that the syringes were of different types and sizes, suggesting that the tampering was not committed by a single individual.

Bibliography

Byrd, Mike. Crime Scene Evidence: A Guide to the Recovery and Collection of Physical Evidence. Wildomar, Calif.: Staggs, 2001.

Fisher, Barry A. J. Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation. 7th ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2004.

"Food Tampering, an Extra Ounce of Caution." US Food & Drug Administration, 5 Mar. 2024, www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-tampering-extra-ounce-caution. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.

Shidler, Gracie J. and Joseph L. Fink. "Changes in Law Result from OTC Drug Product Tampering." Pharmacy Times, vol. 88, no. 5, May 2022, www.pharmacytimes.com/view/changes-in-the-law-result-from-otc-drug-product-tampering. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.

Wiley & Sons, 2008. stigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, and Attorneys. 2d ed. Totowa, N.J.: Humana Press, 2007.