Swollen can of surströmming
Is it safe to eat the content of a swollen can of surströmming?
Fermented fish, despite the scent, is micro-biologically a very safe product. In the seventies, the National Food Administration in Sweden attempted to add food poisoning bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens. None of these could grow in the cans. Clostridium botulinum and Listeria monocytogenes were not tested but the high salinity (amount of salt content in the water) makes it extremely unlikely that these bacteria could grow.
It can be concluded that surströmming micro-biologically is a very safe product. As long as the can is not leaking it is safe to eat from.
We can also defuse the myth that a can of surströmming can explode. If that was true the military would use these. A can of surströmming that gets really swollen almost round, can start leaking, and if it gets punctured in that state a squirt of surströmming juice will fly out. But explode? No!
Fermented fish, despite the scent, is micro-biologically a very safe product. In the seventies, the National Food Administration in Sweden attempted to add food poisoning bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens. None of these could grow in the cans. Clostridium botulinum and Listeria monocytogenes were not tested but the high salinity (amount of salt content in the water) makes it extremely unlikely that these bacteria could grow.
It can be concluded that surströmming micro-biologically is a very safe product. As long as the can is not leaking it is safe to eat from.
We can also defuse the myth that a can of surströmming can explode. If that was true the military would use these. A can of surströmming that gets really swollen almost round, can start leaking, and if it gets punctured in that state a squirt of surströmming juice will fly out. But explode? No!
BBC published this interesting and creative headline. This is fake news or as some people refer to it, alternative truth 😄
