Botulism: Surprises

Before moving on to the brighter sides of home food preservation, a few more interesting and perhaps less known facts about botulism:

• Home canned products may be the most well-known source of botulism, but in recent decades botulism has also been linked to unrefrigerated homemade salsa, baked potatoes in aluminum foil, garlic in oil, traditionally prepared salted/fermented fish, and honey (the primary cause of botulism in infants).
• This might startle you, but we actually consume C. botulinum spores regularly and they generally do not harm adults. Adult human bodies prevent the growth of spores, such that no toxin can be produced.
• However, spores have been found to germinate, colonize and produce deadly poison in the intestinal tracts of infants. Therefore, USDA recommends that honey is not given to children under 1 year of age and that fruits and vegetables be washed very well before fed to infants.
• Clostridium botulinum toxin is among the most toxic substances known.
• Cases of botulism have been reported in which people showed symptoms only 4 hours after ingestion. The longest time reported between ingestion and illness is 8 days.

Information in the entry comes from the USDA factsheet Clostridium botulinum and So Easy to Preserve.