As more people try canning for both aesthetic and nutritional reasons, the need for sound information becomes critical. At Oregon State, the Master Food Preserver Program prepares volunteers to answer food safety and preservation questions. One alert volunteer noticed that a recipe in an Oregon newspaper had omitted vinegar, potentially causing deadly botulism poisoning. The paper immediately published a correction. Utah State discovered that 10 percent of 1,334 pressure canners were defective, potentially putting 133 families at risk of botulism.
Safety starts on the farm.
Researchers at Purdue found a surprising source of Salmonella. According to conventional wisdom, hogs raised using the best disease-controlling techniques would contain less Salmonella. But because some other bacteria were not in these hogs to compete with it, Salmonella flourished. Now, farmers can adjust their management practices to address this issue. A new decontamination system should reduce contamination of poultry before processing.