The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-09-26
U.S.COLDfiS$$sy.'>.
CANNING Plan
NOT ASUCCESS
Housekeepers Warned to Be
On Guard Against Danger
AND TO SAVE FOOD
Vegetables Canned BY Cold Pack
Method Must Positively Be Cooked
Before Being Served.

1t is now given out that the cold
pack method of canning vegetables
which has been so urgently recon-
mended by the United States Depart
. ment ofsAgriculture of is not a sue
4 cess.
Not only are the vegetables so can
ned not keeping very well but there is
said to be danger of ptomaine poison
ing from using them unless they are
cooked carefully before being served.
There is no reason for being scared
by what has been discovered but 1t is
important that every family find out
that further cooking of the fruits and
vegetables canned by the cold pack
method is necessary to insure safety.
So many Bennington people have
canned vegetables this season by the
cold-pack method advocated by the
government, that it seems most de-
sirable that they should be warned
OF the possible danger from this
method. DR.. Ernest c. Dixon of San
Francisco gives, in last weeks issue
of the Journal Of the American Medi.
cal association, results obtained from
experiments as to the life of a GER
tain germ, botulinus, which is found
in goods canned by this method
This germ if taken into the system
may produce some form of ptomaine
poisoning. DR.. Dixon in his article
says:
As "a result of the shortage of the
worlds food supply at the present
time, there has been a widely adver-
tised propaganda urging that suflici-
ent vegetables and fruits be canned at
home to provide for the winters sup.
ply of food. There have been numer-
Gus articles in the daily press and in
magazines in which the federal au.
thorities have advocated the use of
the cold-p method of canning veg
etables and fruits. Various methods
of sterilization are described in these
reports, but the one which can be
most readily adopted by the house
wife is that of heating the filled jars
in a wash boiler at the temperature
of boiling water Tables are given in
which the time necessary for heating
the different vegetables and fruits is
stated.
In order to test the efficiency of the
cold-pack method of canning vegeta-
bles which may be contaminated with
spores of the bacillus botulinus, a
number of jars of peas, beans and
corn were prepared according to the
directions described in the daily
press. Each jar was inoculated with
an emulsion containing spores of the
bacillus botulinus before It was
placed in the wash boiler The one
quart jars of peas and beans were
left in the boiling water for 100 min
utes, and those of corn were heated
for 1870 minutes. The jars were seal
ed Immediately after removal from
the boiler and were inverted ant
placed in dark closet.
Within three weeks it was notet
that the contents of all the jars hat
undergone a fermentation with thl
formation of gas, and that some o
them were leaking. When the jar
were opened there was a strong odo
which resembled butyric acid, an,
cultures of the juice from all the jar
showed a mixture OF bacillus botulinu
and bacillus substilis Portions of tn
juice from all the jars were injecte
into guineapigs, and some of the pea
were fed to chicken. All the guinea
pigs died within twenty-hours. an
the chicken developed symptoms O
limberneck and died within thirt
hours. A portion of the juice fror
the corn was passed through diatC
maceous filter and injected into
guinea.pig, and the animal died will
in twentyfour hours. The symptom
of all the guinea-pigs and of the chicl
,en were identical with those produ,
ed by the toxin of the bacillus botl
mus which is formed in meat brotl
The results of this series of exper
ments prove that the cold-pack met
cd OF canning vegetables is not Ell
cient IL the raw material happens
be contaminated with spores of III
bacillus botullnus. The fact IN,
'rboth bacillus subtllis and bacillr
botulinus we're recovered in cultur,
from the contents of the Jars prov,
that single sterilization for the tin
recommended in the published dire
tions Is not sufficient to cause the d
structlon Of spores. Fortunately Il
number of sporebearing bacter
which are responsible for producer
poisonous changes in food is sma
but the bacillus botulinus belongs
this small group, and since Il is ali
an obligatiye anaerobe, the condition
which exist in the sealed Jar or C,
are ideal for It's groWth and toxin ff