I did some home canning because of TikTok.
Emma Samuel, a lecturer in environmental health at Cardiff Metropolitan University, raises awareness of her worries on #worldfoodsafetyday regarding dangerous social media food trends that may lead to an increase in foodborne illnesses.
I love TikTok; I don’t make any material, but I like to watch since it’s a handy resource for all kinds of life hacks, like how to clean an oven or build bricks. Videos labeled “TikTok made me buy it” or “TikTok made me do it” frequently show up on my “For You” page. These quick videos—none longer than three minutes—basically show how influential the platform is. I can attest to this as, completely as a result of my own TikTok watching habits, I am now the happy owner of an air fryer.
With the use of sophisticated algorithms, TikTok generates progressively personalized content for its For You pages, which have a tendency to become addictive, based on user preferences discovered through like or swiping.
I especially like reading the recipe posts. Recently, someone created a recipe for crunchy, delicious chickpea snacks that are roasted using said air fryer (i.e., well worth the money), which I immediately shared with my social circle. The meal looks appetizing and is incredibly easy to reproduce. That being said, not all postings about food are food-related, and one on home canning that I recently read made me quite uncomfortable because I’m really concerned about food safety.
The issue is that
I immediately went to the comments section after seeing what at first glance looked to be home-canning raw chicken (a later creator post assured viewers it was cooked), served with a side of homemade mayonnaise (later clarified as store-bought, but with an addition of raw egg yolk, in another creator post).
While some viewers reacted disgust, a large number of others were excited at the idea of being able to “can” (in a jar) leftover food or food that was almost out of date. Touted as a means of cutting costs and preventing food waste, TikTok is well known for igniting trends similar to this one that quickly become incredibly popular. Enthusiastically, the designer disclosed that the skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs, which were first canned in 2020, were going to be decanted and combined with the raw-yolk, mayonnaise mixture for lunch. Delicious.* The 90-second video has received an incredible 12.2 million views in only ten days, with 1.2 million people clicking the “like” button and nearly 62,000 comments.
Can you can food at home?
While home canning is not a typically British procedure, it is simple to understand how the trend might appeal to any viewer facing financial hardship on a worldwide scale without regard to cultural boundaries. Home canning offers several options, not the least of which is a well-stocked, convenient, ever-lasting pantry of fruit, vegetables, meat meals, and soups (at least according to TikTok producers), as the dilemma between heating or eating is quite real these days. For those who are unfamiliar, home canning entails packing both small and large glass jars with the desired food product (raw or cooked), sealing the lid tightly with a hand crank, and, especially for inexperienced cooks, heating the food in an open pan over the stovetop to a rolling boil (100˚C)—a process known as a “water-bath.”
On the other hand, long-term canners frequently opt to utilize a specialty pressure cooker, in which the filled jars are placed inside a tall pan equipped with a pressure gauge and locked lid. Unlike the water-bath approach, steam and water will be used to raise the temperature of these cans to 115˚C, which is over boiling point. Naturally high-acid foods (such as fruit, tomatoes, and sauces) can be canned at high pressure, while low-acid items (such as poultry, stews, and all vegetables) need extra attention and should be water-bath canned.
Why is preserving food at home risky?
Naturally, both techniques are intricate, and since home canning typically excludes the use of additives or preservatives, it is vital to understand the science underlying food pairings (such as low vs. high acidity and low vs. high water content) and how it affects the safety of food results. In a home setting, it can be difficult to maintain the necessary time/temperature combinations (altitude-dependent, yes), sterile equipment requirements, and the use of potentially deteriorating food.
Thus, Clostridium botulinum is the primary cause of risk associated with home canning of food. It is found naturally in the environment in soil and water, but it is not linked to fresh foods because it is inactive in oxygenated environments. Nonetheless, spore-forming, or producing tiny cells, can
In this scenario, limited oxygen (hey, can!) low acid (hey, chicken thigh!) and a temperature between 4˚C to 49˚C are favorable for botulism growth (hey, cozy, chilly kitchen cupboard!).
Therefore, what some seem to be an easy and affordable method of converting food waste into safe food could actually be triggering an undetectable toxin that could cause severe illness in the user.
How come Clostridium botulinum is a problem?
Vertigo, trouble speaking, breathing problems, difficulty swallowing, paralysis, and death are among the symptoms of botulism.1, 2 Only a few micrograms (before food is visibly damaged) of one of the most lethal naturally occurring poisons known to science can make adults sick, and as a result, the death rate is significant.
Because of how serious the threat is, any outbreak that has two cases or more verified is considered a public health emergency, regardless of whether the source is commercial or home canning.2.
Unfortunately, because they are made in large quantities and are batch prepared, home canned products are essentially the ideal packed food to share or give as a gift. My thorough analysis of the TikTok comments also showed that people who tried to express complaints similar to the ones mentioned above were mocked and
Many others expressed the opinion that “haters” should be willing to eat store-bought canned goods and go out to restaurants or fast-food establishments without hesitation. So what’s the issue, Dawg? (Note: This is a funny video that regular TikTokers will like). Everyone agreed that this method of food preservation was intrinsically more wholesome, healthful, and nutrient-dense, and the designer even responded with a kind “Thank you!”
This clearly illustrates why customers are still concerned about food safety, as the hazards of eating out, purchasing food from a store, and canning food at home are not actually comparable. While it is important to emphasize that the person praising water-bath canned chicken thighs was adhering to long-standing family customs, an examination of other canning posts on the same account—which included recipes for meat chilli, beef stew, and other vegetables—did not attempt to draw attention to the potential dangers in the event that something goes wrong during the canning process. In fact, an article promoted reusing canning jars and lids without outlining the crucial step of sterilization.
Rebel canning along with other issues
In order to avoid giving the impression that I am singled out for criticism, a TikTok search for “home canning” turned up its own hashtag (#canningtiktok), with thousands of creator postings receiving a total of 61.4 million views. A chance peek at what was available indicated that the concerns about food safety weren’t exclusive to lovers of chicken thighs. There were many food safety no-nos, such as quartering whole raw chickens before canning them, soaking and washing them in the sink, pre-washing mushrooms in detergent, dry canning (not recommended), canning potatoes with their skins on (not advised), using lid rings (which, on mason jars, can break the seal created while water-bath or pressure boiling), and canning dairy products (including butter). All of the
Interestingly, creators rarely answered sensible (though sometimes unfavorable) questions in the comments, preferring to concentrate on the controversy. What was even more worrisome, though, was the particularly sinister hashtag #rebelcanning that was added to a few of these posts.
With 21.4 million views as of this writing, the TikTok community with the hashtag “#rebelcanning” has become a place where content makers freely admit that none of their home canning recipes adhere to or even approach suggested practices. Foods that are deemed high risk are frequently found canned, such as dairy products and rice (low acidity), with low acidity milk being one of the most widely used varieties.
Will the number of instances of botulism increase?
Home canned foods continue to be the main cause of botulism in the United States, notwithstanding its rarity.5. It’s also important to remember that foodborne illness data is calculated and shared retroactively, and that patterns or trends associated to these illnesses only emerge over time.
Another concern is that, as TikTok spreads around the world, occasional home-canning botulism outbreaks—which might be fatal—may not always be traced back to the original information source, making accountability hard. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since 2015, there has been a significant decline in the number of deaths attributable to home consumption of canned food.3. It will be intriguing, or not, as the situation may warrant, given that TikTok only stopped being a dance/music-oriented platform in late 2018 and has since evolved into what it is now.