People Injured Nationwide From Eating Botulism-Contaminated Food
Castleberry's Food announced a nationwide recall of potentially contaminated products in July. The company has recalled tens of millions of cans of more than 90 products including canned chili, hash and stew from over two years of production, under worries of botulism contamination.
A young West Texas boy and his brother allegedly became seriously ill from eating canned food believed to be contaminated with botulism poisoning. One boy remains hospitalized in a critical condition, a hospital official said. His sibling was released from the hospital on July 26. The two are from Abernathy, about 17 miles north of Lubbock. Both are under 18 years of age. They had consumed Castleberry's Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce Original for lunch on June 28. The can had been discarded and could not be found.
A 52-year old man from New Mexico's Sandoval County is paralyzed with botulism and state health officials said they were trying to determine if he ate canned food involved the recall.
What is botulism, how do you get it and how can you avoid it? These and other questions will be answered in future blogs.