Are we facing a botulism tsunami?

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[blackdog]

My mother had my father buy her an old italian hand cranked pasta maker in 1972. Unused, in the original box along with the receipt it made it's way thru the family after my mother passed away. After visiting my brother, his wife decided it was my turn to take the thing. I did.

Thanks mom! We make so much pasta now it's our staple. It's so easy! Cooks so fast(like thirty seconds!). We won;t buy store made pasta at this point. It's like my mom bought it for me for when I could appreciate it. She knew she wouldn't be here by the time I had a family.

[Mrs.Z]

LOL!!

[JimRed]

Hint.........Dry beans, rice, root crops in a root cellar, dried fruit, dry fish and meat, dry milk, lard, coffee beans bought in 25lb bulk, sugar and flour in 50lb bags will keep you fed all year.

But...but...but...those things require actual COOKING!!!

[blackdog]

Busy life paying taxes to take care of everyone else introduced me to the Crock Pot. It's really not cooking. It's like culinary abandonment with an acceptable, yet unsatisfying outcome.

Best oatmeal ever.............Steel cut oats, water, crockpot. Pour it all in when you go to bed, set on low, and you wake up with the best real oatmeal you'll ever taste. Cost is around five cents a serving.

[Sherman Logan]

If you have any doubt about something you boil it for 20 minutes before you eat it.

Won't work. Not for botulism, which isn't (usually) an infection.

It's caused by Clostridium botulinum. This organism forms spores, which makes it highly resistant to heat, so can survive the canning process if not done right for the particular type of food. Then it grows inside the can and produces a toxin. You get sick, usually, from poisoning by the toxin, not by the bacteria growing inside you (infection).

You can boil (or even pressure cook) food containing botulin toxin all you want, and it won't accomplish anything. Eat it and you're pretty much dead.

It's been estimated 1 gallon of botulin toxin would be enough to kill all humans on the planet.

The hard part, of course, is getting people to line up for their dose.

Botulin toxin is what they use for the botox treatment. Pelosi' best friend!

[GOPJ]

Prevention

NEVER give honey or corn syrup to infants younger than 1 year old — not even just a little taste on a pacifier.

Prevent infant botulism by exclusively breastfeeding, if possible.

Always throw away bulging cans or foul-smelling preserved foods. Sterilizing home-canned foods by pressure cooking at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes may prevent botulism.

Keep foil-wrapped baked potatoes hot or in the refrigerator, not out in room temperature.

[tiki]

I didn’t think you were right so I did some more research, there are all sorts of sites explaining botulism and how it can be prevented. I am including the one I trust the most and have seen on other Extension sites.

The network of Extension agents are experts on home canning, if they don’t know the answer, they know where to get it.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09305.html

Another site.

“Although the bacteria may not be destroyed by boiling, the highly dangerous toxin is made harmless by ordinary boiling – 10 minutes at sea level, longer at higher altitudes. However, you must make sure that every food particle is heated to the boiling point if you want to destroy the lethal toxin produced by the bacteria.”

http://publichealthcareoption.net/expertise-in-botulism-treatment-is-possible-if-you-read-this/

[LibFreeOrDie]

The Ball Canning Company has loads of online info, including how-to videos:

http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/preserve__fresh_preserving__home_canning_/33.php

If you’ve never canned before, start by making jams using the boiling water bath method. I’ve been making jams using wild fruit for years. Tomatoes, tomato sauce, and pickles are easy to can, too, using the same method. Homemade sauerkraut is great!

Once you’re proficient at canning those high-acid foods, then think about investing in a pressure cooker and canning low-acid veggies and meats.

You can re-use the glass jars, but never reuse the rubber seals or lids.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks djf.

Does anyone know whether botulism always causes a gas release, so if stuff is bad, it will start to pressurize?

Canning is not that difficult to follow the instructions; botulism poisoning has been the traditional domain of canning companies. People (mostly women) with very basic reading skills and on a dead run because there was little in the way of labor-saving devices managed to put up food for the entire winter, and infectious disease was still the main killer, with everything else tied for second.