United States in 1963, the year of the Michi¬ gan outbreak from canned tuna fish, heightened the keen and continuing interest of the Public Health Service, the Food and Drug Adminis¬ tration, other Federal agencies, and industry in control and suppression of this disease.
EpidemiologyMeyer, in his classic review on food poison¬ ing, says of botulism (1) : "This is a specific intoxication with toxins of Glostridium botulirmm or parabotulinum. The five serotypes, A, B, C, D, and E, exist in nature as sporulating saprophytes and grow freely in a great variety of inadequately preserved animal or plant foods. During resultant spoilage a powerful toxin is formed and, on ingestion, is absorbed, ultimately inducing some changes in the motornerve terminals at the neuromuscular junction; acetylcholine output is diminished, with effects resembling denervation. The name botulism (from botuhis, sausage) has, at least in the United States, lost its significance, since animal products play a subordinate role here. Most outbreaks are caused by inadequately preserved, understerilized plant products. . . . "Up to 1925, oommercially canned foods manufactured in the United States were at fault in Mr. Osheroff is program analysis officer,
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.