Over 170 cases of green beans are being recalled because the canning company believes they're tainted with a botulism-causing bacteria. If you consume GFS Fancy Blue Lake Cut Green Beans, then you may want to check for lot code 19H7FL. The produce was distributed to 11 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The FDA and company are working together to try and figure out how this happened. Hopefully consumers can spread the word before someone gets hurt. Botulism is scary -- it only takes one microgram of toxin to be lethal to human. Of the average yearly reported botulism cases, a quarter of them are foodborne.

If you want to learn more about this illness, check out the Wikipedia page here. Good luck to authorities in rounding up all 1,026 cans before anything happens.

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It's been a little over a week, and the canned chili botulism scare is still in full force in some areas of the country. This week, I read several reports on retailers who still had not pulled the affected products from store shelves.

The signs are starting to poke through though, as some cans are so filled with expanding bacteria that they are literally bursting on the shelf. That ought to get someone's attention, yes?

In a state of the art society like the one in the U.S., word must take more than a week when a food poisoning scare starts for things to be taken care of. Happy joy.

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Botulism hasn't been seen in commercially canned goods since the 1970s, but it recently reared its ugly head in some hot dog chili sauce products and sent 4 people to the hospital. Botulism is caused by the bacteria Clostridium and works by paralyzing muscles. All 4 people (2 kids in Texas and a couple from Indiana) are expected to fully recover.

The warning and recall apply to 10-ounce cans of Castleberry's, Austex and Kroger brands of hot dog chili sauce with "best by" dates from April 30, 2009 through May 22, 2009. They were canned in Augusta, GA, and Castleberry is cooperating fully with the FDA and CDC investigations.

This is scary -- why now, after all these years?

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First it was spinach, now it's carrots: I never thought I'd see the day where some of nature's finest vegetables were at the root of life-threatening conditions, but it's true.

Investigators believe that botulism toxin from bottled carrot juice paralyzed a woman, the fourth person who may have been poisoned by bacteria in the drink. The other three people experienced respiratory failure and remain on ventilators since drinking the carrot juice a month ago.

All four people shared a meal in early September that included carrot juice made by Bolthouse Farms.

Bolthouse Farms issued a voluntary recall for the juice last week, but a public relations representative for the company said that all of the other products remain available to consumers. The FDA has suggested that the carrot juice may have been inappropriately handled before it was consumed - meaning it had not been adequately refrigerated.

Bolthouse Farms carrot juice is my favourite juice of all time - I actually drank half a bottle before I got on a plane on two days ago. I feel fine, but I'll have to find a new favorite juice very soon.
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