Daily AncestorPtomaine poisoning
Ptomaine poisoning was an old name for food poisoning, blamed on poisons thought to form in spoiled food.
Webster's 1913 defines a ptomaine as one of a class of bases formed in putrefying matter, a cadaveric poison, from Greek for a corpse. Wiktionary gives ptomaine as a dated word for food poisoning.
The 1911 Census Bureau manual asked that ptomaine poisoning be kept for deaths from poisons in spoiled food, with the food named, as ptomaine poisoning (mussels), and called its loose use undesirable.
As seen in a recordCause of death line, state death certificate, 1910s to 1930s
Cause: Ptomaine poisoning (canned salmon). Duration: 2 ds.
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Ptomaine poisoning." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/ptomaine-poisoning. Last checked 2026-10-12.