I don’t quite understand the concept of botulism. I’ve googled it but anytime someone mentions it I’m confused all over again. My best understanding is that it’s food poisoning but I feel like it’s more complex than that

Question

Does botulism refer to the bacteria or to the food ?

In: 10

Answer 1

it refers to the food poisoning itself.

The bacteria that causes botulism is anaerobic and is poisoned by oxygen. So it tends to show up in compromised canned food which has very little oxygen inside, but not on spoiled food that is exposed to air. like most other microbes that cause food poisoning, the bacteria here creates a nasty toxin that remains in the food even after you’ve prepared it or the bacteria die off, and this toxin causes botulism.

With infant children, they are even more at risk, because if they ingest the spores of this bacteria, unlike older children and adults their bodies can’t get rid of the spores before teyt become active and start producing the toxin, poisoning them from the inside out. this is why its not advised to give honey to very young children as honey can contain the bacterial spores.