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Bit of a scandal in the baking industry right now. It’s been revealed that a few years ago a baker received a batch of flour that had been contaminated with caustic soda. He knew about the contamination but used the flour to bake bread anyway. The baker had to balance the risks with the ‘life-saving’ benefits for hungry people. He didn’t tell anybody about the contamination.

Anyway, there was a hell of a to-do – many of his customers died painful, lingering deaths.

There was a happy ending however. It was all hushed up, the baker wasn’t prosecuted but was allowed to retire and was later knighted for services to the baking industry. He had been working in good faith and made his decision based on the best available evidence at the time.

After all, there were precedents.