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Show Warns Against Use Of Canning Powder Chemical preservatives in the form jf canning powders should never be used to shorten the processing time for fruits, vegetables, or meats, warns Miss Elna Miller, extension nutritionist nutrition-ist of the Utah State Agricultural college. Such chemicals preserve the food by making it indigestible to bacteria and substances poisonous to bacteria are usually poisonous to man, says Miss Miller. The pressure cooker method is the -jnly safe method for processing meats and vegetables, other than tomatoes, because the bacteria which causes botulism in these foods cannot be killed kill-ed in less than six hours where the boiling point is 212 F. In higher elevations, such as are found in Utah, so much longer periods for processing ire needed that the canned product is very much overcooked, unpalatable, and probably unsafe, according to ',he extension nutritionist. Since the pressure cooker, if used correctly, will raise the boiling point up to 240 F. at 10 pounds pressure md 250 F. at 15 pounds, there is a ossibility of destroying botulinus organisms or-ganisms in a much shorter period. If '.he solution is sufficiently acid as in fruits and tomatoes, the B. botulinus will be destroyed at boiling temperature. temper-ature. A few botulinus bacteria may live through an insufficient processing process-ing period and produce the toxin which makes the canned food deadly oisonous even though the jar or can 's perfectly sealed. J |