Botulism Real Threat in Canning Tomatoes
By Michelle Fabio
In a sad reminder to tomato canners everywhere, 14 people were recently admitted to a Russian hospital, one of whom later died, because of an outbreak of botulism; the source was found to be homemade canned tomatoes consumed at a family gathering.
Botulism is an illness caused by the toxin “botulin” produced by Clostridium botulinum. As this toxin is one of the most powerful, for humans even one microgram can be lethal.
While botulism is a rather rare illness—there are usually fewer than 30 food-borne cases of botulism per year in the United States—and particularly in a food with high acidity like tomatoes, it can be deadly.
Here are a few things you can do to prevent botulism from affecting you and your family.
(1) As high temperatures kill the botulism toxin, follow The Tomato Queen’s advice when canning tomatoes.
(2) Before eating the canned tomatoes, boil them for at least 10 minutes.
(3) Discard any jars that have lost their airtight seal.
As the botulin toxin inhibits nerve function that leads to respiratory and musculoskeletal paralysis, symptoms of botulism can include dry mouth, slurred speech, double and/or blurred vision, drooping eyelids, difficulty swallowing, muscle weakness, difficulty breathing, vomiting, incontinence, and diarrhea.
If you are experiencing any of these, particularly within 6-36 hours after eating canned goods, get to the hospital immediately.
Source: Botulism, Canned Tomatoes – Russia (Khanty-Mansi)
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:01 am
Excellent article that could potentially save people a lot of grief.
February 27th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Thanks Nancy; sometimes we forget that such basic dangers still exist.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Most of my can tomatoes will become spaghetti sauce. Based on your article, if I cook the spaghetti sauce to a low bubble boil for 10 minutes it should be safe?
August 30th, 2008 at 10:22 am
I just started canning and i am having trouble. I canned whole tomatoes by the BALL BOOK. They started to bubble and produce gas. I threw them away. I didn’t want to mess with it. So i tried making my own sause. It been about a week and again now the sauce is producing gas. They seal well. And i cook them like i am supposed to. I don’t know what i am doing wrong.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:23 am
How toxic is it? A little over a pound of botulin is enough to kill every human on Earth. Thats some pretty toxic stuff!!
August 23rd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Just canned tomatoes and some gars have water on the bottom why ,is it bad, how to stop it
December 10th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
my family just ate a can of bad tomatoe sause and is heading to the hospital now. my mom is a freak and thinks we got botulism because the sauce smelled rotten do u think its possible we got botulism
August 11th, 2011 at 9:25 am
I received a recipe from a friend that has been canning spagetti sauce for many years. I followed the recipe evrything went very well. I boile the tomatoes for several hours while I was cooking other things. I tasted the sauce it was excellent. I then boiled my jars and heated my lids as directions from ball said. I filled the hot jars with the beautiful still boiling sauce sealed set on the floor and the jars sealed right away and all looks well. Her recipe said not to move for 24 hours so I have not moved them yet. My husband tho upon learning of me canning these, said I was stupid because I did not add lemon juice before sealing. He said that the tomato sauce will be of no use because they will be poison when I open them. IS THIS TRUE?
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Vickie, I use the same method for canning tomatoes. We have never had a problem with canning tomatoes this way. We only add a tsp of salt per quart.