Check the expiration dates when you shop

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Especially important on canned goods.

Had a rust through recently. Hairline, but gave me a botulism scare. I think I was millimeters close. Board of Health doesn't have jurisdiction on canned goods, only fresh goods that require a license.

And with botulism you sit and wait for symptoms. The instructions are fudgy. It's the toxin that causes the illness. I think poison control was telling me you might ward off a tiny amount. You might also ward off a tiny amount of actual ingested spores because it needs an anaerobic environment to grow and produce toxins, so our digestive tracts are generally inhospitable. But a tablespoon or so of live and toxic would compromise your existence rapidly.

Critical time periods were 2 and 7 days. Though some sites indicated it could still breed undetected for about 6 weeks!!

Beware. Examine your canned goods.