Botulinum toxin can hide in a can of mushrooms: Pskovich reminded the rules of home canning

Botulinum toxin is one of the most powerful poisons known to mankind. In microdoses, it is used in cosmetology, and you can meet it in a bank of mushrooms from a home shelf. It sounds frightening, but the risks can be reduced to nothing if you follow simple rules, said “MK in Pskov” in Rospotrebnadzor in the Pskov region.

The danger lies primarily in home canned meat, fish, mushrooms and non-acid vegetables, as well as in dried, smoked and salted fish, beams and products of home smoking and salting. The insidiousness of botulism is that infection can be “nested”: safe and dangerous areas can coexist in one bank. And a swollen lid is not a mandatory sign of infection.

Experts recommend not to make sealed canned meat, fish and mushrooms at home, add vinegar or citric acid to blanks from low-acid vegetables and store canned food at a temperature not higher than +6 ° C. Before use, homemade canned food is better to boil for 20 minutes, and you should not buy them and smoked products from random sellers. Low temperatures, sufficient salt content and acidic environment prevent the growth of the causative agent of botulism and the production of toxin.

If after using home blanks, the state of health worsened, you should immediately consult a doctor. Before examination by a specialist, it is permissible to take an enterosorbent, such as activated charcoal, and drink more liquid.