Castleberry’s Plant Closed Due to Botulism in Chili Sauce
Updated July 2007: A plant in Augusta, Georgia has closed because food produced from the plant contained botulism. Castleberry’s Food Company stated that 16 cans of hot dog chili sauce tested positive for botulism so far.
The company originally recalled just the chili sauce from retailers, but a few days later Castleberry expanded its recall to include canned meat products. So far the company has recalled 80 kinds of canned chili, beef stew, corned beef hash, and other meat products.
There have been four cases of botulism reported; a couple from Indiana and two children from Texas became sick from the chili sauce.
The company has hired help to visit over 8,500 retailers who have Castleberry’s products and have them remove all recalled products from the store’s shelves. The company is also working closely with the FDA and the Department of Agriculture to find out how widespread the botulism is.
The senior vice president for the company, Dave Melbourne, stated, "So that we can devote all available resources to this investigation, we agreed to shut down our entire facility in Augusta. We will not process any more food there until the FDA and the USDA agrees it is appropriate to reopen."
The 16 cans of recalled food are bursting with bacteria that cause botulism. The bacteria thrive in moist, oxygen-free environments and inside canned food is a perfect place. As the amounts of bacteria grow, they produce gases that can cause contaminated cans to swell and burst. The extremely potent toxin can infect people if it is inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the eye or breaks in the skin.
Botulism is a serious illness caused by consuming foods containing the botulinum toxin, a nerve toxin that left untreated can cause paralysis of the arms, breathing muscles and legs. Symptoms include blurred vision, slurred speech, drooping eyes, difficulty swallowing, and muscle weakness that moves down the body.
Click here to see a list of recalled items from Castleberry's Food Company.