Avoiding botulism

Perhaps you read about the nurse in her 30s with two children younger than 10 who were stricken with botulism last month in Spokane after eating improperly canned green beans from a backyard garden. The good news is that all three were given an antitoxin and are expected to recover.

Botulism is caused by a toxin produced in food by the microorganism Clostridium botulinum, which is found in soil all over the world. This organism has the ability to form heat-resistant spores. When these spores grow, they produce the deadly neurotoxin that causes botulism.

The frequency of botulism is rare, but each year several outbreaks occur in Washington state. Most of the botulism outbreaks have been caused by improper home canning of foods such as green beans, corn, beets, spinach, asparagus and chili peppers. If you plan to can vegetables or meats, you must use a pressure canner. That is because 240 degrees F is needed to destroy the heat-resistant Clostridium botulinum spores. This temperature can only be achieved in a pressure canner.

Home canners must follow recommended procedures and times to process low acid foods.

Excellent online information is available at www.homefoodpreservation.com. This site is the National Center for Home Food Preservation and is the repository for all U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved home food preservation information.

Reliable printed information would include current editions of Washington State University food preservation publications available at our WSU Extension office in Yakima for a minimal cost. The Ball Blue Book published by the Ball Canning Company, 2003 edition, is a safe resource. However, earlier editions are outdated and should be replaced.

For an extra guarantee of safety, home-canned vegetables, meat and fish may be heated before eating. Boiling destroys the botulism toxin. Bring foods to a rolling boil and boil 10 minutes at altitudes below 1,000 feet. Add an additional minute boiling time for each additional 1,000-foot elevation. Heat home canned fish to an internal temperature of 185 degrees F, using a meat thermometer, in a 350- degree F oven.

Botulism has occasionally been caused by foods that were not vacuum sealed by canning. Smoked fish can develop anaerobic conditions under the skin in the intestinal cavity. Long-term storage of smoked fish should be in the freezer; no longer than one week in the refrigerator.

Baked potatoes wrapped in foil, meat pies and a large pot of sauteed onions have also been the cause of botulism when they were left out at room temperature overnight or longer. Low-acid cooked foods must be refrigerated after they are cooked.

Garlic in oil has caused multiple cases of botulism. If you make flavored oils at home such as garlic in oil, or other vegetable and herbs in oil, these mixtures must be stored in the refrigerator for no longer than one week. Never store these mixtures at room temperature. The toxin develops in the absence of oxygen in low acid foods at room temperature.

Honey can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum and this has been a source of infection for infants. Children less than 12 months old should not be fed honey. This would include not feeding graham crackers or any other baked food made with honey to infants younger than 12 months. Honey is safe for persons 1 year or older.

Botulism symptoms include difficulty swallowing, slurred speech and double vision. If left untreated, symptoms may cause paralysis of arms, legs and respiratory muscles resulting in death. Before 1950, fatality rates from botulism were about 50 percent, but with the availability of antitoxin and modern respiratory support systems, the death rate has decreased to about 10 percent.

* Sheila Ryan is an agent for family and consumer science with the Yakima County office of Washington State University Cooperative Extension.

For answers to food safety or food preservation questions, call the Master Food Preservers at 574-1600.

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