Getting toxic substance in food tested

[chawke]

I almost ingested something that smelled and tasted toxic and similar to nail polish remover in food my wife bought using a food delivery app and then placed in the fridge. I knew there was something off before I even put it in my mouth when I saw a lot of liquid beneath the food that shouldn’t be there. The second I placed it in my mouth I knew immediately something was very wrong; I spit it out immediately and rinsed thoroughly. Only then did I sniff the food and realized there was something in there that is not meant to be ingested. Now I would like to know what the substance is. The reason I’m posting about this here is it seems there are some people here who are knowledgable about this as I came across this related thread on a Google search: 

 

However, in my case I don’t think this is enough evidence to suggest my wife was trying to poison me so I think it may be jumping the gun to file a police report at this stage and potentially develop a huge rift between my wife and I. Initially I did call the police thinking they could help get the substance tested but after a brief discussion they ultimately recommended I call a poison control center. So I did that but after I told them I ingested minimal if any of the substance and wasn’t showing symptoms, they said that testing for food samples will have to be done at a lab.

I’ve placed the food in zip-locked bags. For the moment I’d just like to get this substance tested to see what it is. I live in NYC. Would getting it tested at a lab really rack into the thousands? In any case which lab(s) would you recommend for this? Particularly any open on the weekend so I can get it tested asap. Otherwise if not getting the food tested at a lab what would you recommend?

Edited December 22, 2018 by chawke

[Endy0816]

Check the ingredients of the bottle that at least will give some idea about what you are smelling and possibly a means to test it yourself.

It may have been acetic acid. That is also normally found in vinegar though. What sort of meal was it?

[chawke]

12 hours ago, Endy0816 said:

Check the ingredients of the bottle that at least will give some idea about what you are smelling and possibly a means to test it yourself.

It may have been acetic acid. That is also normally found in vinegar though. What sort of meal was it?

It’s food purchased from a food delivery app and doesn’t have a list of ingredients. Indian savory dish with rice and meat. The toxic substance didn’t smell or taste like vinegar and it was much stronger.

[Phi for All]

In the US, there are lots of places that do drug and alcohol screening for companies. Some of them have branched out into other poisons and paternity testing.

I'll bet there are kits online you can buy for specific food poisoning situations as well (probably cheaper and less accurate, but good enough if you're looking for a specific contaminant).