[CH] Botulinum Toxin -- again
James Campbell (camkeep@bright.net)
Sat, 27 Mar 1999 08:41:06 -0500
Intentional Repost: Sorry but I think I left a couple of things unclear and
add [in brackets]:
Back in the dark ages of my career, I worked in epidemiology and such. It
was then accepted as fact that botulinum toxin is not thermo-stable. If you
get it hot it breaks down and is harmless. [This is not true of the
organism, which only pressure cooking will destroy] This [re-heating] has
saved a lot of people from poisoning, [particularly] in the days of improper
preservation. The mere touching of a finger-tip to the liquid of a
contaminated food to taste it can contain enough toxin to be fatal, so ???'s
'When in doubt, throw it out' is very good advice. [Another] and far more
common bacterial food poisoning (Salmonella FP is actually an infection) is
from the toxin of Staphylococcus Aureous. It commonly forms in foods that
are left too long at room temp, like Easter or Christmas fixin's. [Normal
cooking destroys these organisms, but the first person to touch the food
puts them back. They are particularly fond of gravies, sauces, Baked
Alaskan, etc.} This toxin .is. heat stable and will not be affected by
further cooking, [once it has formed]. Disclaimer: It has been quite a few
years since I was current in the field, but I doubt that this has changed.
Jim Campbell the Other