Jane loved having her own garden. She liked to water the plants, pull the weeds, and harvesting the fruits and vegetables as they ripened. Her garden consisted of corn, tomatoes, green beans, okra, zucchini, squash, lima beans, watermelon, and cantaloupe. She would also can excessive vegetables and fruit to use at later times. On this particular occasion, Jane noticed that the pressure cooker, the instrument used to sterilize the canned food, did not seem to be acting quite right, but the cans were hot when they came out so she figured everything would be okay. Several months after the last canning, Jane invited the entire family over for Thanksgiving dinner. The meal consisted of turkey, ham, and all of the vegetables they had canned. For dessert, they had pecan pie and vanilla ice cream. The next day, while most of the family was out shopping, four of the family members were home with blurred vision, dry mouth, and muscle weakness. Jane took them to the ER. One of the first questions asked was what did you eat last? The common foods that all of them ate were the chicken, the ham, the tomatoes, the green beans, and the spinach salad. The doctor determined that the family was suffering from botulism food poisoning. In the United States, foodborne botulism happens in 15% of cases each year, frequently from foods with a low acidity. He was suspicious of the green beans and tomatoes, even though tomatoes are highly acidic. The doctor also said that using proper methods of microbial control could have prevented their illness. Required:
By reading the story above, what do you think is the main cause of the botulism and what are some steps that could have been done to prevent this from happening?