Canned food consumption leaves consumers critical

Castleberry's Food Co’s nationwide recall of potentially contaminated products may prove futile for the young West Texas boy who confirmed to have botulism poisoning from canned food. He remains hospitalized in a critical condition, a hospital official said.

His sibling was released from the hospital on July 26. The two are from Abernathy, about 17 miles north of Lubbock and are yet to be identified. Both are under-18. They had consumed Castleberry's Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce Original for lunch on June 28. The can had been discarded and could not be found.

Castleberry’s recalled tens of millions of cans of more than 90 products including canned chili, hash and stew from over two years of production, under worries of botulism contamination.

A 52-year old man from New Mexico's Sandoval County is paralyzed with botulism and state health officials said they were trying to determine if he ate canned food involved the recall.

He was hospitalized July 26 and remains serious. He is only able to wiggle his toes, the officials said. "We can communicate with him only by him basically moving his toes," said Deborah Busemeyer, New Mexico Department of Health spokeswoman.

The man has reportedly tested positive for botulism in a preliminary test by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC earlier said, as of July 22, four people had been hospitalized because of the contaminated food.

Two cases of botulism have been confirmed in Indiana.

Steve Mavity, a senior vice president of quality assurance for Castleberry's, said in a statement that the company was working with health officials towards taking necessary steps to ensure the safety of consumers. "There is nothing more important to us than the health of those who use our products every day," he said.

According to the Federal Food and Drug Administration the products involved in the recall were not cooked properly, permitting the growth of Clostridium botulinum bacteria responsible for the dreaded disease.