Medicine: Warning

This year's outburst of home canning recently brought loud warnings against botulism*— an often fatal form of food poisoning — from the health departments of New York and California. The poison which causes botulism is produced by the Bacillus botulinus, which flourishes only where there is no air, as inside a sealed jar or can.

These bacteria get on food from garden soil. In home canning, they can be destroyed only by the prolonged high temperatures which pressure cookers attain. But destroying the poison which the bacilli secrete is much easier. Method: boil canned foods for at least 15 minutes after removing...

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