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Botulism cases trigger warning to keep carrot juice chilled

by Medindia Content Team on Sep 19 2006 4:51 PM

All carrot juice (including pasteurized) should be refrigerated all the times, warns the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This warning was prompted by the incidence of botulism in Georgia that was believed to occur due to the consumption of product not being properly refrigerated.

The three cases were reported on September 15. Other consumers of the same brand , who purchased the same batch, did not have any complaints as they had properly refrigerated it. The condition is being closely observed by the health officials in Georgia, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to the Director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Dr. Robert Brackett, "Because botulism is such a potentially serious illness, we want to remind consumers that it is critical to refrigerate carrot juice for safety. Consumers should not keep carrot juice unrefrigerated." "Consumers should look be aware and look for the terms "keep refrigerated" or "refrigerate after opening" on all labels to know whether or not a product needs to be refrigerated."

Occasional checking of temperatures of refrigerators/freezers should be done. According to the FDA, the temperatures should be less than 40°F for refrigerators and not more than 0°F for freezers.

Source-Medindia
GYT


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