Rotten meat paste linked to botulism cases in Algiers

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Botulism is no joke. Whether it’s from home-canned potatoes, pruno, fermented seal flipper, or meat paste.

There might be something lost in translation but according to Ennahar Online, at least two people have died and another eight are ill from bot toxin-containing meat paste.p7l7Nya

A second person died, Friday, July 3, following a cardiopulmonary problem in Batna. This is the second death of botulism after the death of a child Thursday in Khenchla.

This is a sexagenarian hospitalized on June 23 in the University Hospital of the province along with 8 other patients suspected of having contracted the disease, according to the APS agency quoting the director of the abovementioned health facility. 

The consumption of rotten meat paste (cachir) would be the cause of this serious disease, pending “the result of bacteriological analysis by the Pasteur Institute of Algiers.” Quantities of nearly a ton of cachir and 339 kg of chicken paste were withdrawn from sale in the provinces of Batna and Khenchela

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About Ben Chapman

Dr. Ben Chapman is a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University. As a teenager, a Saturday afternoon viewing of the classic cable movie, Outbreak, sparked his interest in pathogens and public health. With the goal of less foodborne illness, his group designs, implements, and evaluates food safety strategies, messages, and media from farm-to-fork. Through reality-based research, Chapman investigates behaviors and creates interventions aimed at amateur and professional food handlers, managers, and organizational decision-makers; the gate keepers of safe food. Ben co-hosts a biweekly podcast called Food Safety Talk and tries to further engage folks online through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, maybe not surprisingly, Pinterest. Follow on Twitter @benjaminchapman.