Potlucks can be scary. I prefer to attend events organized and attended by other food safety nerds. They should at least know how to safely cook/prepare/transport/serve stuff.

If I attend a potluck in the real world, I typically stick to the bread products and high acid fruits. I’m trying to avoid the unknown.

Like botulism.

According to MyFox28, at least 21 attendees of a Lancaster, Ohio church potluck dinner have botulism. Tragically, one individual has died.

Health officials say all of the people who are ill attended a potluck at Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church Sunday.

Three of the patients are in critical condition, and 10 patients were taken to other hospitals.

Health officials 50 to 60 people attended the potluck.

The hospital says a neurologist determined a patient had botulism Tuesday morning, and a short time later, two other cases were identified. All 19 of the patients came in to the Emergency Department at Fairfield Medical Center.

The Fairfield Medical Center is reminding the community that botulism is not contagious, so there is no threat to the community. But medical officials are encouraging anyone who was at the potluck to come to the emergency department.

There’s no indication as to what food contained the botulinum toxin. It could be linked to home-canned foods (as most botulism cases in the U.S. are) or maybe baked potatoes wrapped in foil that were held at room temperature – something that I’ve seen at potlucks before.