The Danger of Botulism in Food

Dr. Travis Stork: They’re handy in the kitchen. You may already know this next
don’t. Before you make your own garlic infused olive oil, I want
you to think twice because garlic, it’s a low acid vegetable. It will
grow the toxin Clostridium botulinum at low oxygen levels. This
can cause the paralytic illness botulism that people have heard
about but fortunately is rare.

Dr. Jim Sears: Right, but it’s interesting how many people keep cloves of garlic in
olive oils soaking at home and I think I probably have this in my
pantry right now.

Dr. Drew Ordon: Because in restaurants, they’re using a lot of this stuff they keep it
around. They soak it in either citric or phosphoric acid which will
prevent the botulinum toxin.

Dr. Travis Stork: So restaurants prepare in such a way that the botulinum toxin is not
going to be produced. I want you to look at this animation of what
really happens with botulism. If botulism were to grow, the
bacteria proliferate. It releases this toxin and that’s what you're
seeing if you happen to eat something that was embedded with this
toxin. The toxin will get into your blood stream and what it does is
it affects those nerves that sent impulses to your muscles so
essentially your muscles become paralyzed.

And so some of the symptoms are double or blurred vision,
drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, overall
muscle weakness. The end point, the reason people die is because
they can’t even take a breath. And that’s why this is an illness we
try to prevent. In kids --

Dr. Jim Sears: Another point. Babies under age one are even more susceptible to
botulism because they don’t have the stomach acid that helps fight
that off so that raw honey is a big source of botulism. It’s just such
a tiny amount. It doesn’t hurt us but babies it is much worst.

Dr. Travis Stork: Well, this entire subject in which we are talking about, it really
made me think twice. We did an experiment to see how fast spores
may grow. About ten days ago, we put some garlic in a bottle of
olive oil. We sent to our friends at Labs Incorporated. The report
came back this morning saying there is definitely Clostridium
present in the bottle.

Now botulism is very toxic. It can kill you. Even if diagnosed
early, the recovery is long. It’s protracted so don’t try this at home.
Make sure you cook your garlic if it’s going to set for extended
periods and always refrigerate. That’s an important take home.
Garlic is great for you. Olive oil is great for you and there are safe
ways to eat it and unsafe ways and hopefully some people learn
something there.