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Comment by gspencley | Hacker News Reader

> Doesn't an internal temperature of 160° F kill everything except some weird toxins?

It's worth noting that food safety is not limited to living micro-organisms but includes everything from physical objects (choking on a chicken bone) to the bi-products of micro-organisms (such as alcohol or the toxin that causes botulism). Although bacteria produces the botulism toxin, the toxin itself can't be rid of afterwards through temperature.

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In the case of botulism toxin, it's actually the opposite. The spores are extremely resistant to temperature, but the toxin can be destroyed by boiling at normal temp/pressure until all parts have been fully exposed to those temps. Other toxins are still an issue though, and many are heat resistant, so not a good idea to eat potentially contaminated foods.

Botulinum toxin is even less heat resistant than that. Five minutes at 185 F will take care of it. Though boiling would certainly get the job done.

Ah thanks! It's been a few years since I took a food handling safety course and I remembered Clostridium botulinum being called out as something that "heat won't kill" but you're right, it's the spores, not the toxin itself.

But yeah, as you also pointed out, bi-products that can cause illness are separate issues from "killing living organisms that cause illness", and heat is not always the magic solution. Heavy metal poisoning is another example of something that heat will not take care of.

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