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MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 426 



From Table 2 it may be seen that string beans and corn, followed b\" spinach 

 and other greens, asparagus, and beets are the foods which have been largely 

 responsible for botulism outbreaks from home-canned products. It is fairly 

 obvious why these products have been involved. String beans are easy to grow 

 and more of them are canned than of any other non-acid vegetable. The same 

 trend holds true for the other products mentioned. String beans also are not a 

 good medium for the growth of many bacteria and even if organisms do grow, 

 their presence is not readily detected in many cases. Corn and greens are among 

 the most difficult products to sterilize, because their consistency retards the rate 

 of heat penetration into the jar during processing. 



