The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1924-04-18

OF boiulinur poisoning.
Twelve persons. three entire fami.
lleE and one member OF n fourth.
were wiped out after a family dinner.
Not a single ono present survived.
Tho poison was no deadly that
Esther CcrhlE. sucking child. was
poisoned nursing at iis mothers
breast.
Because appearance OF this poison
Ia 80 rare much is ye, to DO learned
about II. Or. GeiEcr said. II was
accordingly with interest that he
watched tho experiments OF the state
public health service In connection
with tho Albany case.
Experiments with chickens show.
ri that a newly developed antitoxin
has promising results. A white
chicken WAS inocuiated with one-two
hundreths OF drop OF Juice taken
from ono OF the Jars. mopped around
for some days and died.
Another chicken. treated with tho
anii.toxin. showed no III effects
from the botulinus incubation.
DIR. Gciger il at present working
20 determine moro about the cause
OF botuiiam. and how TO prevent Il.
Tho effect il already known. for no
poison has as high n mortality rate
as this toxin thrown off by tho sporc
OF tho botuius.
BOIL EN- AFTER
OPENING CAN, TOO
II the advice OF DR.. Geiger can be
summed Into one statement II would
be.
boil ALL HOME CANNED
VEGETABLES FOR 30 MINUTES
AFTER TAKING THEM FROM
THE JAR. AND BEFORE USING"
In his official position as chief OF
all food poisoning Investigations con.
Quoted by tho public health service,
and as professor OF cpldcmioligy Mt
tho University OF Chicago, d.. Gciger
has had an opportunity TO reach
some concrete opinions on fund.
amcntal rules for homo canning.
His Investigations have also shown
that In general hotui'n-s rea-- =
more common In the west than In the
east; that they are found moro fro
quently In the mountainous country.
and that Alaska Is virtually free
from the germ.
Tho botulus Is found In tho soil.
and no positive means OF Graduating
IL from tho soil has yet been found,
nltho investigation indicates that
blowing land and exposing II TO sun
light and air tends to eliminate the
spore.
The five fundamental principles in
homo canning. in the opinion OF DIR.
Gelger. are:
1. Cleanliness and tho use of
sound food products. Tho housewife
who cans halfspolcd beet may be
laying the groundwork for commit.
ting suicide and killing her whole
family.
?. Sufficiently high temperature TO
destroy tho sporc OF botulus. This
can be obtained by boiling mt approx.
Imately 24o degrees Fahrenheit, 10
attain which pressure must be used.
II botulus spores have been left TO be
canned thru carelessncss In washing,
ordinary boiling will make the spores
harmless.
HEAT MUST PENETRATE
THE WHOLE PRODUCT
3. The heat must penetrate the
food product. Strangely enough,
DR.. Geiger explained. no table has
yet been prepared TO showth number
OF minutes given weight of food
must DO boiled at a given temper.
aturc to render the food safe. nltho
such a table may soon be worked
out
4. The acid reaction, II present.
Is an element OF safety. AS the acid
content OF the food becomes higher.
the danger from hotulism is dc.
creased.
The altitude at which canning Is
being carried on must bc considered
as factor In determining how long
food should DO cooked. Tho sporc Of