466 
Botulism  Due  to  Olives. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1920. 
and  health  officials.  The  summary  of  the  investigations  of  the 
Bureau  of  Chemistry  on  olive  poisoning,  given  elsevvhere  in  this  issue,  ^ 
contains  material  of  general  interest  and  practical  application.  Four 
of  the  five  outbreaks  reported  in  the  summary  were  due  to  a  toxin 
produced  by  the  Type  A  of  Bacillus  Botulinus;  the  organism  re- 
sponsible for  the  fifth  attack  is  not  yet  differentiated.  Type  A  is 
the  type  found  in  California,  and  differs  from  the  type  present  in 
the  Eastern  states  and  apparently  from  that  observed  in  Europe. 
This  summary  leaves  one  in  some  uncertainty  as  to  whether  green 
olives  as  well  as  ripe  olives  have  been  implicated  in  botulinus  poison- 
ing. In  the  Montana  outbreak,  olives  stuffed  with  pimento  are 
considered  to  have  been  the  source  of  the  trouble,  and  in  another 
instance  "olive  relish"  in  a  tin  container  was  the  substance  involved. 
It  is  not  clear  whether  the  "relish"  was  made  of  green  or  ripe  olives, 
but  it  is  certainly  true  that  green  and  not  ripe  olives  are  commonly 
used  for  "stuffing."  The  title  of  the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  summary, 
on  the  other  hand,  seems  to  limit  the  poisoning  to  ripe  olives,  so  that 
a  clear  statement  on  this  point  seems  desirable.  The  important 
question  as  to  whether  or  not  B.  botulinus  contamination  in  canned 
food  is  always  accompanied  by  physical  signs  of  decomposition  seems 
to  be  answered  in  the  affirmative  by  the  experience  of  the  govern- 
ment investigators.  They  state  that  in  all  the  material  examined  by 
them  in  which  B.  botulinus  was  present,  the  odor  was  distinctly  offen- 
sive. This  characteristic  is  a  doubtful  safeguard,  however,  since 
olives  washed,  iced  or  served  with  highly  flavored  foods  may  not 
betray  their  dangerous  nature,  particularly  to  persons  unfamiliar 
with  the  natural  taste  of  ripe  olives.  The  source  of  the  odor  does  not 
seem  to  be  cleared  up  by  these  investigations.  Whether  the  dis- 
agreeable smells  are  due  to  the  products  of  B.  botulinus,  or  whether 
the  other  microorganisms  apparently  always  present  in  the  imper- 
fectly sterilized  contents  of  the  jar  or  can  have  given  rise  to  the  putre- 
factive conditions,  is  left  undetermined  by  the  evidence  printed  in 
the  article  cited.  The  conclusions  of  the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  worker 
that  more  efficient  methods  of  sterilization  should  be  employed, 
that  brine  packing  should  be  modified,  and  that  olives  should  be 
handled  with  the  same  degree  of  care  and  cleanliness  as  any  other 
perishable  food  product  seem  abundantly  justified. 
1  DeBord,  G.  G.,  Edmondson,  R.  B.  and  Thorn,  Charles:  "Summary  of  Bureau 
of  Chemistry  Investigations  of  Poisoning  Due  to  Ripe  Olives,"  Jour.  Amer.  Med. 
Assoc.,  May  i,  p.  1220. 
