On 2008-02-11, BOB > wrote:

> because they may have been processed under conditions which could have led
> to contamination by Clostridium botulinum bacterium spores, which can cause
> life-threatening illness or death.

No doubt a just-in-case situation. In a cannery, cooking times are
determined by how long and at how high a temp is required to kill botulism
bacteria. These temps are tested in real time by cooking live botulism media
in actual canning conditions and then analyzing to make sure all bacteria
have been killed. This is done a couple times per season. Usually, recalls
are due to possible undercook runs that may have the potential of not
killing any/everything in those cans. That's why many canned products
seemed overcooked. They are ....and for good reason.

nb