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[-] Damage@feddit.it 26 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

IANAMBBIHWITFAPI: I am not a microbiologist but I've worked in the food and pharma industries.

Botulin has a F0 time of 3 minutes, meaning that after 3 minutes at 121,1°C (250°F, ew) there is one in a bazillion chances that a spore may have survived. The toxins are easier to destroy, but if you don't destroy the spores, those will turn back into bacteria and produce more toxins, aside from potentially colonising YOU later.

Most industrial sterilisers have an in-pipe dwell time between 20 and 90 seconds, depending on how hot they get the product, given that F0 = 90 seconds @ 121°C is the same as F0 = 9 seconds @ 131,1°C, IIRC.

At least that's what I remember, I don't design these things, I just make them work.

You can't reach 121°C by boiling the cans on your stove top, because at 100°C water magically transforms into steam, the only way to prevent that is by adding pressure. Either you dive in the depths of the ocean, or you use a pressure system, like a pressure cooker... but with a standard cooker, how tf do you discern what's the temperature inside? You'd need at the very least a pressure gauge if you don't have a temperature probe (because since increasing pressure increases the boiling point, the current pressure gives you the current temperature).

[-] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

like a pressure cooker

Or a pressure canner 😜

[-] Damage@feddit.it 4 points 1 month ago

Yeah I'm not privy to the art of home canning

[-] prime_number_314159@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

You only need about 1 extra atmosphere of pressure for the boiling point of water to rise to 120°C, which is available at only 10 meters below the surface of the ocean. Even with a strong safety factor, 15 meters of water is well within the depths found in many large freshwater lakes, saltwater lakes, etc.

Alternatively, you can can things in a sugar syrup bath, which can easily reach the required temperatures. /s

(To be fully clear, this is an entirely terrible idea. The pressure within the cans will still rise to 2 atmospheres, and the result is very likely to be a can bomb spraying dangerously hot, and frightfully sticky sugar syrup all over anyone foolish enough to be close.)

[-] Damage@feddit.it 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You only need about 1 extra atmosphere of pressure for the boiling point of water to rise to 120°C, which is available at only 10 meters below the surface of the ocean.

Yeah but then you'd be boiling water in water, that's kinda difficult.

[-] brognak@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

If you can't measure the internal temp, pretty sure you use brute force and let it sit for an extended period of time, so even if it doesn't hit 121/3min it at minimum got close for much longer.

this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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