The recent news events have brutally reminded us that the botulinum is not only a dusty chapter of the medical manuals, but a concrete and daily threat that has hit several Italian regions hard this summer. In Sardinia, at least 11 serious cases have been recorded after a local festival, with eight hospitalized in the Cagliari area including a child finished in resuscitation, while the Ministry of Health had to collect the pulp pulp packs from the market.
It is not an isolated case, unfortunately. Between 2001 and 2020 1,039 suspicious cases of botulism were reported in Italy, of which 452 confirmed. The large majority (91%) was food botulism, 8% infantile and 1% wound. There were 14 deaths, with an average lethate of 3.1%, falling from 3.8% of the decade 2001-2011 to 2.6% in 2012-2020.
Botus remains in our country a public health problem that is accentuated precisely in the summer months, when high temperatures and home preparations by grilled and picnics multiply the risks.
Homemade preserves: the number one enemy
What for many Italian families represents a rooted culinary tradition and a way to bring the authentic flavors of the territory to the table actually hides fatal pitfalls that food science has learned to know and class with surgical precision. Half of the cases recorded in Italy are due precisely to the vegetable preserves in oil, those same preparations that fill the handouts in southern homes with eggplant jars, peppers and courgettes that seem harmless as a holiday postcard.
The Clostridium Botulinum, the bacterium responsible for the intoxication, is a particularly insidious microorganism because it is proliferate in oxygen -free environments – exactly the conditions that are created within the sealed jars of the home preserves. The greater risk vegetables are mushrooms, olives, peppers, aubergines and green beans, precisely those ingredients that end more often in grandmothers’ jars and that during the summer holidays are consumed more frequently in outdoor dinners and improvised buffets.
When the oil becomes a double -edged sword
The most common error, the one that transforms a simple preserves into a potential biological weapon lies in the belief that the oil can act as a universal and harmless preservative. In reality, the oil creates precisely those anaerobic conditions ideal for the growth of the bacterium, while the lack of sufficient acidification – a pH greater than 4.5 – allows the dormant spores to awaken and start producing botulinum toxin, one of the most poisonous substances known by man.
Fresh foods are not at risk of botulinum, as well as cooked ones where botulinum toxin is destroyed by heat, and frozen ones. The problem arises when vegetables are kept improperly, without following the sterilization and acidification procedures that the food industry applies strictly.
During the holidays, when consuming local products of dubious origin or improvise domestic conservation with recipes handed down orally, the risks multiply exponentially.
Foods to avoid
According to the official data of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità , in Italy the home production foods that are most responsible for the cases of botulism are black olives in water, the preserves of mushrooms in oil, the preserves of turnip greens, the preserves of meat and fish (especially tuna). But the list of high -risk foods is longer and more articulated than you can imagine.
The products in oil represent the most insidious category: aubergines, courgettes, peppers, artichokes, dried tomatoes, garlic preserved in extra virgin olive oil become bacteriological bombs if prepared without the necessary acidification precautions.
The non -acid vegetables preserved in water or unallated brine constitute another black chapter on the list: olives, cucumbers, onions and beets can turn into fatal vehicles if the pH exceeds the critical value of 4.6.
Soups and soups and soups not refrigerated in a suitable way, ethnic preserves, homemade vacuum products are always potentially contaminated.
Particularly dangerous are the preparations of meat and fish kept home: home sausage sausages, homemade bresaola, tuna in artisanal oil, cod in brine and all those products that the Italian regional tradition has handed down generation in generation without modern knowledge of food safety.
The alarm signals that must not be ignored
Botulism does not come silent: the first symptoms include clowning and splitting of vision, slowdown and difficulty of expression, struggles to ingest. They are neurological signals that are often exchanged for summer tiredness or heat strokes, thus delaying a medical intervention that instead must be timely to avoid fatal consequences.
Botulinum toxin acts blocking the nervous transmission, causing a progressive paralysis that can affect the respiratory and heart muscles. What begins as a slight difficulty in speaking or focusing your gaze can evolve rapidly in a condition of mortal danger that requires hospitalization in intensive care and mechanical ventilation.
During the holidays, when you are more likely to try local specialties or trust small producers who sell their preserves at the edges of the tourist roads, particular attention must be paid to the alarm signals: swollen jars, anomalous odors, strange colors or altered textures are all indicators of a possible contamination that must never be underestimated.
The precautions that save life
Botus prevention passes through precise rules that modern food technology has coded with scientific rigor. The industrial preserves are generally safe because they follow sterilization and control protocols of the pH which completely neutralize the risk, while the craft ones require more attention and a case assessment.
Fresh foods, cooked ones in which botulinum toxin is destroyed by heat, and frozen ones are generally considered safe. The high heat, over 85 degrees for at least five minutes, is able to destroy the toxin, even if it does not eliminate the bacterial spores that can reactivate in favorable conditions.
On vacation, the golden rule is to be wary of the home preserves of unknown origin, pay attention to the appearance and smell of preserved foods, and do not hesitate to throw away any product that also present the slightest doubt. Because when it comes to botulinum, the border between a regional delicacy and a fatal danger can be more subtle than you think.
Don’t you want to lose our news?
On food poisoning, read also:
