WARNING on Canning Butter-May 21, 2009

Dear friends, followers of the blog, and family,
I received the information below regarding the canning of butter from Brian Nummer, Food Safety Expert, at USU. Please read it carefully. In his initial email to me he cautioned against canning unsalted butter. I emailed him back and asked about salted butter. You are reading the information he sent regarding canning any butter:

I am the USU Extension Food Safety Specialist. One of my responsibilities is food preservation and storage. I am new to Utah (2005), but have been here long enough now to understand the food storage concept.

The Cooperative Extension System only recommends preservation and storage processes that have been researched and proven safe. In the case of butter, no one has done this research. There are many people who claim canning butter is okay, but they are simply making a statement. It is a long explanation to delve into the science, but botulism can survive inside a water bubble, inside a fat (butter). The question is then, does salt inhibit it? BYU is working on that answer. But, when you look at the internet and passed along canning recipes for butter, none mentions that canning unsalted butter is outright risky. Another common “reputable” preservation is to cover raw eggs in mineral oil. Unless the eggs are then placed in refrigeration, nothing stops pathogens (bad bugs) from growing.

Here are some USU sites I am working on to assist preservers and storage folks:
http://foodpreservation.usu.edu

http://foodstorage.usu.edu

http://foodstorage.pbworks.com/ (If you or anyone would like to contribute as a section author to this site, it can be arranged).

A recommended site (not mine – I used to work there, though):

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/


Brian A. Nummer, Ph.D.
Extension Food Safety Specialist
Director, Retail Food Safety Consortium
8700 Old Main Hill

Utah State University
Logan, UT 84322-8700

435-797-2116

brian.nummer@usu.edu

From: lin0303@netscape.net [mailto:lin0303@netscape.net]
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 8:15 AM
To: Brian Nummer
Subject: Re: butter at a low price

Dear Linda:

There are no safe, research-based (studied) canning procedures
for butter. The internet methods out there are all untested. BYU is currently
studying the safety of canning salted butter. Canning unsalted butter is a very
high risk for botulism food borne illness.

Please tell people if they choose to can butter, it is not recommended by USU
Extension.

Brian A Nummer, Ph.D.
Extension Food Safety Specialist / Asst. Professor
Dept. Nutrition and Food Sciences
Utah State University