The Botulism Outbreak(s) That Provided Impetus For Standardized Canning Procedures

An article in the Smithsonian magazine discusses the impact of a botulism outbreak in 1919 / 1920 that lead to the development of standardized procedures for canning.  These standardized procedures for processing and inspection were not initially federal regulation, but were a state regulation in California and an industry standard used by the National Canners Association.  Must of this was the basis for the federal regulation that came in the 1970's - the Low Acid Canned Food Regulation, which were also enacted after a series of issues related to canned salmon.

The 1919 / 1920 outbreak were there were close to 20 deaths had been associated with canned olives.  But there had been other cases throughout the first half of the twentieth century.  This link to the Califormia Dept of Health website on the the topic.

"From 1899 to 1949, there were 483 outbreaks of botulism reported in North America (the United States and Canada) involving 1,319 case patients and 851 deaths. Of these outbreaks, cases and deaths, 184 outbreaks, 416 cases, and 252 deaths were in California. Additionally, 40 deaths occurred in other states from products prepared in California. In 1919 alone, olives commercially canned in California caused 17 deaths (7 in Ohio, 5 in Montana and 7 in Michigan)."

"All of this was aggravated by sensational newspaper publicity. As a result, botulism became a reportable disease in November 1920. Also, on August 7, 1920, the State of California Board of Health (Board) adopted the first regulation of olive production requiring sanitation throughout the canning facility and a mandated thermal process (specified time and temperature in heating canned foods to render then commercially sterile). In 1920-21 some 20 deaths occurred from botulism linked to canned spinach produced in California. As a result, in April 1921, the Board adopted a resolution covering canning and sterilization of spinach specifying definite fill-in weights, cut-out weights, initial temperatures, and sterilization processes."

This is a good reminder for the restrictions on canning of low acid foods for commercial sale.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/botulism-outbreak-gave-rise-americas-food-safety-system-180969868/
The Botulism Outbreak That Gave Rise to America’s Food Safety System

In late 1919 and early 1920, scientists and canners worked with the government to protect the public from the deadly toxin

Warning Letter Issued to Bean Manufacturer for Inadequately Handling Can Seam Issue

Bush Beans was issued a warning letter related to how they handled a can seam issue this past summer.  Although a recall was conducted, FDA cited the plant for not notifying FDA of the issue, minimizing the issue even though a container failure issue could be danger to the public, and failing to take appropriate action regarding in-process rejects.  The issue was that the firm did not take appropriate action to a supplier related can seam issue. Can seam issues for low acid canned foods can result in serious issues such as the potential for Clostridium botulinum.

The warning letter specified two major items:
1.  Failed to promptly report to FDA any instance of spoilage or potential public health significance where any such lot of food had in whole or in part entered distribution, by distributing bean products after a side seam defect was identified by plant personnel and confirmed by the can manufacturer.  The issue was identified as a weld adhesion failure on the side seams.  The company only considered a market withdrawal for cans manufactured on one day identified as having the most can seam defects, but other dates were involved. "The explanation provided to the FDA Investigators was that your Quality Assurance Department identified this as a food quality issue and not a food safety issue."  Additionally, the firm did not conduct any microbiological tests on the questionable lots at the time of the inspection, and, was not able to give assurance that those products would pose no significant health risks to consumers due to potential post-process contamination based on the observed side seam defect.  The firm did not routinely do microbiological analysis of the cooling water, which while not expressly required, it is important to show control.

2.  Failed to perform and record defects of containers, and perform a corrective action when cans were identified as losing their hermetic seal.  Basically, the firm had an inline dud detector to determine which cans had lost vacuum, but the record keeping was poor and there was no follow-up to cans that were rejected.

The Low Acid Canned Food regulations (LACF) are in place for all those who package low acid canned foods where Clostridium botulinum can be an issue. 


https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2017/ucm578558.htm
September 29, 2017
Warning letter 535494