A supermarket issued a recall of their ground beef as a result of complaints received from consumers. Initially eighteen persons from four families were reported ill after eating ground beef purchased on December 31 or January 1. Additional cases were found as word got out about the illnesses. Customers developed burning of the mouth, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness after consuming the ground beef. The Michigan Department of Agriculture tested the ground beef and found that it had been contaminated with nicotine. Intentional contamination of ground beef with a pesticide at the grocery store outlet was suspected. The product had been distributed directly from the meat plant to many stores, including other stores in the supermarket chain; neither the processing plant nor any other store in the supermarket chain received complaints of illness. No nicotine-containing pesticides were reportedly used or sold in the store where the recalled product was sold. A legal investigation led to the indictment of a grocery store employee who had contaminated the ground beef by using the insecticide, Black Leaf 40, which has a main ingredient of nicotine.