Garlic in oil vs. Food safety

[Melanie Wong]

Editors, the new tip for making garlic and herb oil runs counter to safe food practices. Even if kept refrigerated, it should be discarded after a week and
not kept as long as suggested due to the real risk of botulism.
http://www.google.com/search?q=garlic+oil+botulism+food+safety&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

http://www.chow.com/stories/11883

[chililala]

Agreed!!! This tip is offering super dangerous advice. Botulism is a serious neurotoxin and can kill you. We're not talking about simple food poisoning. I strongly suggest removing this video and making an editorial comment explaining why, so as not to endanger Chow's visitors.

[Melanie Wong]

The advice in this video is particularly dangerous because there is no way to tell from just appearances whether the garlic in oil produced has bloomed botulism.

it also puts Domenic Chiaromonte, executive chef of Match Restaurant, in a very bad light. He had the opportunity to correct himself, and then just reposted the same dangerous information. Again, I won't be eating at his restaurant. Someone should report him to Health Canada if he is following this practice in his kitchen and serving customers.

Edited to add: I just realized that the video can run as a standalone separate from the brief narrative that shows the botulism in the warnings. Given this, it's even more critical to take it down.
http://www.chow.com/videos/most_recen...

[davina]

We've removed the video. Thank you for raising the issue.