Canned food causes botulism?!? Is it true??

[Kif]

My mum was appalled that I fed Dd (9 months) some tinned sardines. She reckoned that tinned foods would give her botulism (as she kindy pointed out - fatal) and shouldn't be fed to babies. She said that if she was forced to she'd at least boil it for 10 minutes.

I've never heard this before - not for proper commercial canned food. I told her not to be silly, but she was adamant, and now i have the seed of worry (as you do, from all 'helpful' advice).

Can the wisdom of mumsnet advise? Is this true?

I was very pleased with those sardines as a source of Omega3 - skinless, boneless from sainsbury... then there's canned beans... my life would be much more complicated if I followed my mum;s ideas...

only thing i heard that can rarely cause botulism is honey.

botulism is only going to happen if the bacteria that cause it are present
and it is hughly unlikely that commercial canned food within the useby date and no dents on it would have such stuff in it.

you have to go by what you feel is right. at nine months, your daughter is probly able to eat what you do, so just give her that. dont worry about special stuff for her.
good luck

canned foods do not cause botulism

there are 2 types of botulism infant botulism is caused by feeding infants honey containing botulinum spores their digestive sysyems cannot cope with this like adults can they go floppy, its very rare

the second type can be associated with improper cooling after canning, the canning process should heat the food to at least 121 degrees c for 3 minutes this will kill everything and the food will be sterile. the problem lies after canning if the seal isn't complete and they use water containing the spores the spores could get into the can and grow as the can will have no oxygen the perfect environment for them to grow, the can won't blow and there would be no indication it would be contaminated.

I've only heard of a few cases in the world of this happening most canneries use very clean water for cooling the cans.

Boiling does not kill botulinum spores they are hardy little things!

You can feed your baby sardines please do not worry canned food is very safe.

(I'm a food microbiologist specialising in food safety hope that puts your mind at rest!)

Is your Mum remembering the Corned Beef disaster in the 1960s, when there was an outbreak of botulism from argentinian cans?

Hi merrykitmas, this is so interesting, years ago I used to work for two guys that were reckoned to be the world's experts on canning and had written 'the' textbook on it - Albert Hersom and Eric Hulland. Do you know them by any chance?

Thanks merrykittymas! Helpful & reassuring.

Perhaps next time I could airily mention that 'my friend who is the food microbiologist thinks...'

Yes the Argentinian Outbreak is the classic case have used it quite a few times in essays myself. It was caused by them cooling the cans in the river and one can's seam was faulty. Think it killed 17 people.

No anorak I don't know them, I'm not an expert on canning by any matter of means I tend to deal with the more persihable foods these days canning is boring as it's so safe!

HTH kif keep feeding those sardines!

Merrykittymas - so is it correct that you shouldn't use the tin if it is dented in any way? DH made me throw out some tin toms recently because the can had a small dent in it.

A dent can indicate that a seam has broken which is the main worry.

Personally I have used cans with dents in them before. I always check and if it's a small dent I would still use it.