It's difficult to find information on the internet about botulism prevention that doesn't talk specifically about canning or jarring your own foods or using pressure cookers.
I'm wondering if it's possible to inactivate the botulin toxin itself and possibly kill the botulism spores that may be present in the food using simple methods such as boiling the food in a saucepan with some extra water.
My specific case is as follows: I opened a glass jar of white beans in tomato sauce 5 days ago, and left half of it in the fridge until today. As far as I know this is the sort of environment the botulinum bacteria would thrive in, however I hate wasting food and wanted to avoid doing so on a mere suspicion.
I placed the beans in a saucepan, added some boiling water and let them boil almost continuously for roughly 15 minutes. I placed a lid on the pan during the last 3-4 minutes of boiling, as I realized that might increase the internal temperature.
The only information I could find on the internet on how to avoid foodborne botulism risk involves high-temperature pasteurization processes or pressure cookers, both of which I have no access to.
Here's a snippet that I found:
Normal thorough cooking (pasteurisation: 70°C 2min or equivalent) will kill Cl.botulinum bacteria but not its spores. To kill the spores of Cl.botulinum a sterilisation process equivalent to 121°C for 3 min is required. The botulinum toxin itself is inactivated (denatured) rapidly at temperatures greater than 80°C .
From https://www.fsai.ie/faq/botulism.html
Did I meet those requirements and inactivate the toxin (and possibly killed the spores, too) by boiling the beans as I did? If not, what should I have done differently?
Answers that don't require the use of advanced equipment or techniques would be very helpful.
Best Answer
Food-borne botulism is a risk mainly in homemade products which were not adequately sterilized before extended storage. The reason is that there must be live botulism spores in the product in the first place, which is not the case with store-bought products as long as these are undamaged and were prepared in accordance with hygiene regulations. For example, garlic oil should only be used in store-bought form, as garlic is a known carrier of botulism which thrives under anaerobic conditions. Of course, with the right procedure, garlic oil can also be made by oneself, but it is imperative to adhere to the right methods such as the pressure canner method described in the Modernist Cuisine Vol. 2.