Botulism is the name of the food poisoning we get consuming the toxin of Clostridium botulinium . It was named after the man who signed the death certificate of people who ate contaminated sausage and died in an outbreak in Germany. In fact, botulism comes from the Latin word, botulus, which means sausage.
Botulism is a rare but serious foodborne disease.
It can be fatal. There are two different types of botulism poisoning that we need to be concerned with - adult and infant botulism. The symptoms of botulism include difficulty in swallowing, speech and breathing, and double vision. The onset of botulism is usually 18 to 36 hours after eating the contaminated food, although it can be as soon as four hours and as long as eight days. C. botulinum is found in soil all over the world.