Food taster
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A food taster is a person that eats food to be served to someone else to confirm that it is safe to eat and does not contain toxins or poisons. The person to whom the food is going to be served is usually an important person, like an emperor or monarch, or anyone that could possibly be under threat of assassination or harm.
The safety of the food is determined by observing whether or not the food taster subsequently becomes ill. Food tasting would not be effective against slow-acting poisons that take a long time to show any visible symptoms.