tasteless powder
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SCP-1266. Note small amounts of clumping through air humidity.

Item #: SCP-1266

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1266 must be kept in hermetically sealed glass containers filled with water in a standard biohazard containment room at Site-19. The room should be kept at minimum 50% air humidity, to encourage clumping of any loose particles. Personnel entering the room must wear Level-4 HAZMAT protective clothing and be thoroughly decontaminated to prevent any SCP-1266 leaving the room.

All testing must be performed by D-class only, and must take place in completely airtight rooms.

Description: SCP-1266 is a reddish-brown powder with a very fine texture, with a tendency to clump in humid environments. The substance was first discovered in a jar labelled ██████ (brand) Sun Dried Tomato Purée. Despite this labelling, it was in a powder form when recovered. Testing has determined the jar to be absent of anomalous effects and it has been discarded in favour of the current container.

The powder comprises 70% ingredients normal for tomato purée, and 30% of an unknown substance, designated SCP-1266. This substance consists primarily of a collection of enzymes, many previously undiscovered.

When SCP-1266 is added to a foodstuff, even in very small amounts (> ██ µg), it has the effect of completely neutralising that food's taste, leaving only a faint taste of chalk, described as similar to licking a stick of blackboard chalk. Even foods with very strong tastes, such as peppers measuring more than 1,000,000 on the Scoville scale, are left tasteless. The insufflation of SCP-1266 presents a similar effect, leaving subjects temporarily unable to smell.

In small doses, SCP-1266 only neutralises the taste of the food to which it is added. In larger or repeated quantities, however, the tasteless effect of the substance lingers, and should any one person consume more than ███ mg, the effect is permanent. Once a permanent effect has been observed, persons affected are unable to register any taste or smell except that of SCP-1266. Persons reaching this level of infection report the chalky taste increasing dramatically, described as "like eating a block of plaster." Almost invariably, this leads to severely degraded quality of life, with infected persons experiencing a loss of appetite and/or moderate to severe depression.

Autopsies performed on subjects suffering from advanced SCP-1266 infection show that salival glands and nasal mucosa have been modified to produce SCP-1266 in large quantities. The faeces of these subjects also contains small amounts of SCP-1266, but this has been determined not to be a threat as sewage processing disperses the substance into safe quantities.

Addenda:

Circumstances of recovery: SCP-1266 was identified and contained when unusually high rates of death by starvation were noted in the town of ████ ██████, ██. Investigation into medical records uncovered a large number of people complaining of a diminished sense of taste. This was eventually traced to a batch of ██████ (brand) Sun Dried Tomato Purée being sold by a local supermarket. So far, all products in this batch have contained SCP-1266, and recovery of the whole batch is ongoing. Currently, the Foundation is in control of ███kg (████ jars), with ██kg (███ jars) still uncounted for.

Substances neutralised by SCP-1266:

One bowl ████ brand tomato soup from a can (chosen for its consistent taste). Subject expressed surprise at its lack of taste.

One bowl ████ brand tomato soup, with shreds of scotch bonnet pepper (300,000 SHU) added.

One bowl ████ brand tomato soup, with 100ml of 1M hydrochloric acid (HCl) added.

Note: not only did the subject not notice any difference in taste, he did not complain of any oral irritation.

One bowl ████ brand tomato soup, with 100ml of 5M sodium hydroxide solution added.

Note: although subject did not note any discomfort while eating, he subsequently expired from damage to digestive organs.
”Damn. I had hoped we might use 1266 to neutralise some liquid-based SCPs.” - Researcher Grant

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