Republican farmer., 1920-05-21
|0L I'VE PACKERS
 | HOPE TO PREVENT l MORE POISONING
Lack of Precaution Said To Be Responsible For Pois-
 on Fatalities.

The Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture authorizes the statement that it has met with a gratifying degree of cooperation on the part of packers of ripe olives in tent that danger from botulinus poisoning in-futupe packs will be elin- mated Five groups of deaths traced to poison produced by the organism known as Bacillus botulinus have oc- cured in New York City, Detroit, Michigan; Canton, Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee, and KalispelI, Montana. All of these cases were due to the consumption of ripe olives. No fatal ities have been traced to green
 olives.
 Very extensive investigations have | been made by scientists from the Bureau of Chemistry with the coop eration of the packers and the pack CTS have also employed specialists to l study the causes of botulinus poison ing and the precautions which should 1 be employed to prevent further diffi- | culty. The experts agree that the l trouble is not inherent in the type of container used. Whether the olives
 be packed in glass jars or in tin cans l they may be rendered absolutely safe | if proper precautions are taken to. l prevent the infection with bacteria 1 during handling and if the packages ] when filed are ster1lized at a suffi l cient temperature and for sufficient period of time. It is entirely practic-
 able say the specialists, to >sterilize
 both glass containers and tin cans at | a temperature high enough to insure | absolute steriliza ton.
 1 Lack of Precaution Responsible. l Unfortunately some packs of ripe
 olives put up in glass as well as some
 in tin during past seasons were not 1 prepared with all the precautions
 now known to be essential and were | not sterilized at a sufficiently high 1 temperature and some of these goods in glass were responsible for the fla
 taities. It is probable that of all the
 ripe olives on the market but an ex-
 trernely small number actually con-
 tained bacillus botulinus. Of more
 than 2,oOOi individual packages col
 lected and examined in the Bureau of Chemistry but eight were found to
 contain bacillus botuIinus, and seven of these were from the output of one | manufacturer and from one batch l of his output In addition to these eight the bureau has examined sam
 pies of some of the olives responsible for the fatalities and has also found bacillus botulinus in these specimens. 0lnCS I1l0Ie IS d pOSSiDl1lly ol udil- ger from any ripe olive which has |, been insufficiently sterilized the Blu
 reau of Chemistry has suggested to the industry that all ripe olives in
 glass in tin wherever located be
 carefully inspected and that any
 which show the slightest degree of I decomposition be destroyed. It has , further suggested that all ripe olives which have not been processed at a l sufficiently high temperature be re- I turned to insure complete steriliza- l tion With few exceptions the olive l packers have most heartily fallen in
 with all suggestions made in the in
 terest of the public safety and by l mutual agreement entered into by , 1 practically all of the packers they . are now taking steps to withdraw f from the market all ripe olives ir , 1 glass containers which have not beer l 1 sterilized at a sufficient temperature = Similar steps are being taken by some
 I of the packers in the case of minced
 olive relishes in view of the fact tha t one death due to the consumption ol
 l such a product has been reported '' While concerted action to remove = ripe olives packed in tin and pro- | been taken by the packers the fac q that spoilage in tin has so consistent
 ly resulted in making a ttsweIF' ou
 | of the can constitutes a warning tG
 I the purchaser which is not often dis
 regarded. There is no reason to an | ticipate danger from properly packet d and processed ripe olives whether
 they be packed in tin or glass con