# Botulism



## Warwalk (May 25, 2011)

I'm new to canning, and will primarily be doing it to put up things like the chili someone had previously mentioned, but the idea of botulism scares the heck out of me. Is there a way of looking at a jar on the shelf and seeing whether botulism could be present? (I know, of course, if there's seepage, discoloration, or the lid has popped that this is a fairly tell-tale sign the food is bad, but didn't know if that simply indicated spoilage, or whether it tended to mean botulism).

Are there certain things that shouldn't be canned? I'd heard about cheese and carrots, but didn't know others...


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## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

Warwalk... there is a ton of confusion about botulism. Here's the important stuff to know:

Botulism is a bacterium that is everywhere. It's not the bacterium that hurts us. Rather, it's the toxin the botulism bacterium produces when it lives in canned foods that are anaerobic (no air) and low acid. The toxin is colorless and odorless. There is no way to absolutely determine whether or not it is present. It is highly fatal if ingested.

High acid kills the botulism bacterium. So do high temperatures. However, even with a good pressure canner, the home cook cannot ensure he/she will achieve temperatures high enough to kill all the botulism bacterium present in certain dense foods. However, many other foods can be canned safely with a high acid environment, in which water-bath canning is sufficient, or with a pressure canner for low acid foods, if instructions are carefully followed for pressure and canning times. When you pressure can, you are literally sterilizing the jar and everything in it.

The more dense the food, the more difficult it is for the home canning cook to ensure an unfavorable environment for botulism to produce its toxins. In some cases, it is impossible. For this reason, it is recommended that the home cook not can dense, low acid foods such as pumpkin puree or butter. You will hear a lot of argument about it on this forum, but to be completely safe, don't can dense, low acid foods if it is recommended that you don't.

Cans will sometimes tell a story of botulism if they are distended by gas, a byproduct of the bacterium producing its toxin. Not always. The good news is, if you don't mind boiling the dickens out of your low acid foods such as green beans canned without pickling, you can be sure the toxin has been neutralized.

I urge you to invest in a copy of the Ball Blue Book of Canning. There is no better primer out there. Don't be afraid, just be safe and knowledgeable in your practices. Canning is a great way to preserve your harvests!


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## Warwalk (May 25, 2011)

Great post sister Raeven! =) For me, canning will be more about simply learning the procedures, getting a starter inventory of canning equipment, and is really more for fun than anything.

I read the wikipedia article about botulism, and it's some scary stuff! I figure, for things such as carrots or green beans, I'll do like you said and play it on the safe side, either eating fresh or picking them up from Kroger in canned form.

I'm not at a place yet where I have a garden, so this would be a way to make large batches of certain foods my family eats regularly, and rather than put them in the freezer (where things are already packed in), I can have them neatly arranged and labeled on shelves... plus, all those jars filled with product are really nice looking! =)

In the meantime, I'll get the Ball Blue Book and read into it... is there a difference amongst the jars? I've seen Ball, Kerr, Kilner, and Weck...


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## Warwalk (May 25, 2011)

Wow! I'm looking at pricing for the jars, and it can be tricky / confusing! They have a single 24 oz jar for $12.99, or a dozen 32 oz jars for $15. I think I'd want the dozen, lol. I think this is going to be fun! editors note: scratch that... said 9 jars in the details. Do most people do the water bath or the pressure canning?


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## okiemomof3 (Jan 11, 2010)

that is why it is recommended to simmer any pressure canned food for 15 minutes.


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## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

Warwalk when it comes to jars, buy quality over primarily price. 

Don't want to scare you further, but commercial canning does not ensure that there is botulism either 

This is also a good, comprehensive site for info: http://nchfp.uga.edu/


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

Raeven, excellent post.

I use Kerr and Ball jars generally.
I water bath can some things (pickles, kraut, jams/jellies, fruit in syrup, dilly green beans) and pressure can others (green beans, corn, meats, stews).

About botulism, the toxins can form in any airless preparation. Garlic in oil--do not do this, it's prone to create toxins, especially at room temperature, also in the refrigerator. Garlic: dry it, pickle it, freeze it, just don't store it in oil.

In addition to Ball Blue Book, you can search "University Extension Recipes" for tested and true methods for canning and pressure canning.


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## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

Feather, that's a really good point. I store nothing in oil. When water-bath canning pickled green beans, which I love with garlic, I always halve the garlic as well. Any way you can ensure the pickling liquid can permeate the food you intend to eat is a good practice.


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## Warwalk (May 25, 2011)

This is gonna be so kewl! =) (as an aside, my normal hobby is smoking / sausage making... day before last I made a chicken-apple-habanero sausage... it started off as a breakfast sausage but I tweaked it pretty good until it was a fine dinner sausage. I had this with penne pasta, chopped tomatoes, asparagus, and a garlic infused olive oil... Dy-no-mite!). I'm looking at some of the pressure canners online, and they range in style and price... I figure for what I'll be doing (large dinner style batches as opposed to jellies, jams) I'll look into one of the larger units. Can the jars be stacked by the way? or is this dangerous?


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## Janette1 (Jan 24, 2013)

I have to share my opinion here, worthless as it may be. Botulism poisoning is quite rare and tends to scare the desire to can right out of a lot of people's minds. Just use basic, safe practices in handling and processing your food. Don't be so afraid of contamination, it's probably not going to happen. Just like you're probably not going to win that 10 million dollar lottery; it happens to somebody, but probably not you.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Yes, jars are stacked in some pressure canners.


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## Guest (Feb 21, 2013)

According to the CDC(Center for Disease Control and Prevention) There were a total of 9 foodborne cases of Botulism in the US in 2010. Only two were proven to be caused by home canned food, one from home canned beets, and another from home canned tuna. A third was suspected(home canned potatoes), but no toxins were found in the food. Several were from eating seal blubber, fermented fish heads, and other strange(to most of us) native Alaskan dishes.
So, 2 proven and 1 suspected case from home canning. No one died. Out of 309 million people in the US, and no telling how many jars of home canned food consumed. 
You are much more likely to hit a hundred million dollar lottery. 
The Ball Blue Book is the Bible of home canning. Follow directions.

http://www.cdc.gov/nationalsurveillance/PDFs/Botulism_CSTE_2010.pdf


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Warwalk said:


> Are there certain things that shouldn't be canned? I'd heard about cheese and *carrots*, but didn't know others...


 I don't know where you heard that, but it's not true.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

get a good pressure canner and the ball blue book . keep your eyes peeled for used mason - canning jars .I got lucky and found some one selling a pickup truck load of clean used jars . follow the directions


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

Carrots, can be pressure canned.
http://www1.extension.umn.edu/food-safety/preserving/vegetables-herbs/canning-carrots/

I've never stacked jars in a pressure cooker, but, I've read about it being done. The university of oregon has an article about stacking jars when pressure canning fish, mentioning a second rack over the first layer of jars. http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/pnw/pnw450.pdf


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I have 2 Presto canners,both take 2 layers of pints,9 each layer for 18 pints. There is a rack between the layers.


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## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

Oh, I agree, it's not common. Still, everything I learned about botulism, I learned from my grandmothers. Both had the habit of accepting gifts of home canned goods from others with beaming smiles and generous praise -- and both immediately disposed of those gifts as soon as the givers had gone. Too many acquaintances had died of botulism poisoning in their day. Today, you likely wouldn't die, but you might be in for a lengthy, expensive hospital stay. You might PREFER to die by the time you got through all that.

It all boils (ha!) down to your tolerance for risk, of course. Me? I see no reason to take risks where none need be taken. But sure; if all there was to eat was someone else's home canned food, I'd see my way clear to it.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/07/botulism-outbreak-in-oregon-sickens-three/#.USakt1ciWSo



zong said:


> According to the CDC(Center for Disease Control and Prevention) There were a total of 9 foodborne cases of Botulism in the US in 2010. Only two were proven to be caused by home canned food, one from home canned beets, and another from home canned tuna. A third was suspected(home canned potatoes), but no toxins were found in the food. Several were from eating seal blubber, fermented fish heads, and other strange(to most of us) native Alaskan dishes.
> So, 2 proven and 1 suspected case from home canning. No one died. Out of 309 million people in the US, and no telling how many jars of home canned food consumed.
> You are much more likely to hit a hundred million dollar lottery.
> The Ball Blue Book is the Bible of home canning. Follow directions.
> ...


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## Guest (Feb 21, 2013)

I cannot envision 2 cases of home canned botulism in an entire year in the entire country as risk. I have no doubt many more people than 2 were in accidents walking to the mail box. And more than that hurt in the shower. There are very, very few things that caused less than 2 incidents in the whole country in a year.
I did find the CDC report for 2011. Once again, 2 cases of home canned food causing botulism in the whole country in the entire year.
http://www.cdc.gov/nationalsurveillance/PDFs/Botulism_CSTE_2011.pdf


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

Warwalk, I recently learned pressure canning and had the same apprehension. I'm doing much better now, mostly due to learning as much as possible about it. I highly recommend _Self Reliance, Recession Proof your Pantry_ put out by Backcountry Home Magazine. The middle section is by Jackie Clay and takes you through pressure canning step by step with much more detail and tidbits than any other book. Her time tested recipes are great (similar to the Blue Ball recipes, but I think better). She has many other books, I have really liked _Growing and Canning your Own Food_, or something like that. But it may be much more than what you're interested in.


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