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Garlic in Oil and Botulism?



Marla wrote:
>News 03/06/1989 
>Chopped Garlic in Oil Mixes 
>Food and Drug Administration 
>
>    The Food and Drug Administration today warned that consumers may 
risk
>potentially fatal botulism food poisoning from some commercial and
>homemade chopped garlic-and-oil mixes if they are left at room 
temperature
>instead of refrigerated.  The warning follows an investigation of three
>hospitalizations in New York after use of such a product. 
>    The labels of non-preserved commercial products call for
>refrigeration, and FDA emphasized this means refrigeration from
>manufacturing to consumption.  In particular, garlic-and-oil mixes
>containing little or no acidifying agent such as phosphoric or citric 
acid
>should be kept refrigerated at all times, FDA stressed.
>Marla Rhodes 
>Northeast Food System Partnership 
>Information and Outreach Coordinator
>617-627-5481
>mrhodes1@emerald.tufts.edu 

Hi Marla. Thanks for sharing this info. Do you know what "non-preserved" 
means? I'm not clear on that. Does it mean uncooked, or under-cooked? 
Aren't commercial canned foods cooked, except those in vinegar, or the 
like? This report doesn't seem to show that any home-made raw garlic and 
oil mixes have resulted in botulism, only commercial ones, and I thought 
most commercial canned foods were cooked. That's an important 
distinction, because raw garlic is supposed to kill bacteria and fungi, 
and "botulism" is one of those, I believe. That means raw garlic in oil 
should be safe, unless it doesn't kill "botulism". This doesn't mention 
any scientific study, so I don't know exactly what this means. You're 
obviously showing support for Dori's previous statement about the danger 
of garlic in oil, which is fine with me. She was concerned that what I 
had shared previously about blending garlic in olive oil as an emergency 
herb might lead someone to get botulism. I had pointed out that this 
remedy was from herbalist doctor Richard Schulze, who recommended it as 
an emergency herb, and I later mentioned that it's possible I didn't 
include all of what Dr. Schulze had said about it, but I don't think he 
mentioned any danger from it. And if raw garlic is indeed anti-bacterial 
and anti-fungal, I'm still not sure there is a danger with it raw. If 
anyone wants to show clear evidence that raw garlic can lead to 
botulism, please do so. The botulism I've heard about so far has always 
been from canned foods. Dr. Schulze and journalist Sam Biser are 
connected with the University of Natural Healing in Virginia. I wonder 
if they can be contacted on the internet. Aloha. Lloyd


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