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Ohio Family Gets Botulism From Home Canned Beans

We’ve been passing along information on how to safely can at home, and here comes a story on why you really do have to be careful. The Mansfield News Journal reported this week that:

A Crestline man and his grandson remain in the hospital after coming down with food-bourne botulism last weekend.

Nortbert Reinhard is listed in critical condition at MedCentral/Mansfield Hospital and grandson Lucas Palm is in serious condition at Akron Children’s Hospital after eating home-canned green beans. Lucas’ sisters Jessica and Samantha Palm also were treated for botulism and have been released from Akron Children’s.

Stephanie Zmuda, Environmental Health Director at the Galion City Health Department, said after 10 years in the field, this is the first time she’s dealt with such cases of contamination.

“Botulism is a type of food poisoning and is the most dangerous,” she said. “Six organisms is the infectious dose, so just a little bit of this germ can get you sick. You do not have to have a whole serving of the food to get sick.”

For more, go here.

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