Avoid foodborne illness when preserving food at home

Cal Powell University of Georgia Cooperative Extension As home canning season approaches, a University of Georgia food safety expert stressed the need for proper precautions to avoid foodborne illness. A recent death in Washington state was attributed to botulism, a toxin that is a byproduct of the heat-resistant spores of a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum that likely originated from a home-canned food. If low-acid foods are not processed properly, the spores survive and convert int