My whole life I have been a little afraid of eating home-canned beans, due to the rare but potentially fatal disease caused by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Botulinum toxin produced by this bacterium is one of the deadliest natural toxins known to man. Now that my organic garden crowded fresh beans, and can possibly eat them have everything fresh, my mind turned again to this microscopic organisms live naturally in the Earth.
Eat ill-prepared food is not actually the only way you can be sick of this type of bacteria. It is also possible for bacteria to infect an open wounds (often caused when drug addicts sharing needles), and infants may sometimes be sick by consuming the spores of bacteria. Fortunately, the presence of botulism poisoning is very rare-only an average of 110 cases reported in the United States each year. The majority of these cases, 72% are infant formulae BOTULISM, and 25% is caused by eating contaminated food.
Infants can be infected eat honey, corn syrup or other sweetener containing the dormant bacterial spores, so parents are warned not to give honey in any form for infants under one year old. When the baby begins to eat solid food, kill bacterial spores stomach acids and prevent them from growing.
Gartner is it as food-born illnesses that most concerns me, and the list of symptoms and side effects makes it reasonable to be concerned. Botulism is a disease, and symptoms is very similar to the people who have a stroke. Symptoms may include difficulty swallowing, drooping eyelids, muscle weakness and double or blurry vision. these symptoms can occur anywhere from 6 hours to 10 days after eating contaminated food. Patients treated for this disease may be on a ventilator for weeks under intensive medical treatment. Paralysis will slowly improve over a number of weeks, if the disease is diagnosed early enough. Previously up to 1/2 of people contracting the disease die, but medical treatment now reduced fatality rate to 8%. Patients may continue to feel tired and have difficulty breathing in years after recovery from this disease.
Clostridium botulinum bacteria grow and multiply in oxygen-free environments, there is a high moisture content and low acidity. This is an excellent description of the inside of a jar of low-acid vegetables. High levels of sugar can reduce the production of bacteria and their toxins. The bacteria are killed when vegetables are canned under high heat and pressure, the way only preserved goods processed.
My parents canned thousands of jars of beans this year, but was always careful to follow the common practice of boiling beans for at least 10 minutes before eating them. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) agree that this is a good idea. It is also sensible to apply the latest home canning industry advice from the US Department of Agriculture, because new methods being developed all the time. It pays only be safe if you can low-acid foods such as beans, asparagus, beets and corn.
People are also known to be ill by botulinum bacterium grows in chopped garlic stored in oil, which should always be kept refrigerated, and in
potatoes baked in aluminium foil, if the potatoes that are back in the film and not refrigerated.
Frozen vegetables represent the same dangers as the startup page of canned produce According to the USDA safe food handling information card, will be kept constant "mad at 0o f always be secure. Freezing keeps food safe by slower movement of molecules, causing microbes to enter a dormant stage. Freezing preserves food longer periods because it prevents the growth of micro-organisms that cause both food spoilage and FOODBORNE illness. "
The same document, however, to say that the freezing do not kill bacteria-it just puts it into dormancy. As soon as the food is thawed, the bacteria begin to grow and multiply, just as they can in a food. Secure, use up any thawed (and even fresh) veggies as soon as possible, and maintain any leftovers in the fridge.
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