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| What I DO understand: It's the botulinum toxin that is harmful and that this is destroyed when boiled. What I am trying to understand is, do the spores pass through the body safely. When we cook in everyday life (without preserving) we boil veg (for example) then eat it. Botulinum spores could be in the soil and as we know, boiling destroys toxin but not the spores. I can pluck a raw carrot from the ground and eat it without anyone shouting at me about the possibility if botulism! Is the stomach not an anaerobic environment and so no toxin is produced? I can't seem to find this out anywhere and I'm one of these people who needs to understand :) |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| You are correct that it is the toxin released as the bacteria grows in a hospitable environment (low acid or pH greater than 4.6, anaerobic, high moisture environment with temperatures ranging from 38°F to 110°F - in other words, inside a canning jar that is not acidic enough) that causes the disease. You have to ingest the toxin itself in order to become ill. One thing you didn't mention is the effect of acidity. Your digestive system is acidic. As you eat, your stomach releases hydrochloric acid to aid digestion and the pH can drop to as low as 1.2. Normal is 3-4. Botulism spores cannot grow and produce the toxin in an acidic environment. Hope that helps. |
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| Right - so basically, you can ingest all the botulinum spores that you want - they won't give out the toxin when ingested due to the acidity of the stomach. That has been my assumption, but I wanted it clarified - so thank you, very much indeed :) |
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| Yes, that's why you can eat the spores. I just read an article about 2 cases of infant botulism this morning (in the UK) due to honey. When infants swallow the spores, the spores can germinate in their immature gastrointestinal tracts (it is not as acidic - from what I've read, it can range between a pH of 4 to 5 and the toxin can begin to grow in a pH of greater than 4.6) and begin producing botulinum toxin. This has occurred even when the honey was only used to sweeten a pacifier. That why you shouldn't give honey to an infant less than a year old. Probably more than you ever wanted to know :-) |
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- Posted by myfamilysfarm 5b (My Page) on Sun, Jan 26, 14 at 13:47
| I've heard no honey til 2, or at least that's what our farmer's market rules were. |
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| Yep, botulism spores are actually a natural part of the garden environment. It's just when they proliferate and start producing toxin one becomes ill ingesting them. There is also wound botulism, where the spores enter a wound and can also grow . You hear about it less than you do infant botulism. |
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