# Electric pressure cookers are not for canning..



## daveomak.fs (May 20, 2019)

*Trends and advertising claims don’t mean countertop cookers are safe*
By Coral Beach on May 20, 2019


If you’re considering picking up some of those electric pressure cookers at early summer garage sales thinking they’d be a handy, easy way to put up small batches of fresh produce for use next winter, think again.

It’s not the pre-owned status that should give you pause for thought, though. Even if you’re planning on buying a new countertop pressure cooker for a peck of backyard green beans, researchers and public health officials say the risk is too high.

Warnings about the cookers and the associated danger of botulism poisoning began a few years ago, almost as soon as various brands including Insta Pot and Power Pressure Cooker XL hit store shelves and the TV infomercial circuit. The warnings have continued, with another earlier this year from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Now, researchers at the Utah State University Extension service have released preliminary data showing the electric pressure cookers do not always reach high enough temperatures for the proper amount of time to safely can low-acid foods including vegetables, beans, meats, poultry, fish and soups.

The scientists in Utah focused on the use of such cookers at altitudes across their state, according to comments from Cathy Merrill, USU Extension faculty member and project lead on the research project. 

“We knew from previous USU Extension research that altitude affects temperatures in electric pressure cookers, and we’ve heard rumors of community groups having classes about pressure canning in ‘smart cookers,’ so we knew it was time to do some research,” Merrill said in a news release about the project. 

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recommended against electric pressure cookers being used for canning, and now we have our own data showing that they just don’t hit the high temperature needed for canning safely at our altitudes.”

Numerous Extension offices across the country have weighed in on the topic, including Penn State’s service less than a year ago, just as people were preparing to preserve the flavors of summer. 

As in materials from other universities and public health officials at state and federal levels, the Penn State Extension Service warning stressed that a number of factors are involved in safe home canning. There hasn’t been any research by the USDA or a university to show that these electric multi-cookers can safely process low-acid food, according to the Penn State service.

“A common misconception about home canning is that the goal is to get the jar to seal. While having a strong seal is important, the most critical factor is whether the food inside the jar is safe to consume,” according to information from Penn State. “When food is heated inside the jar during the canning process, factors such as the density of the food, size of the food pieces, and size of the jar are figured into the process calculation. 

“The entire thermal process including the heat-up to cool-down steps contribute to the destruction of harmful microorganisms. Electric multi-cookers tend to heat up and cool down quickly. Since heat transfer has not been specifically studied in this environment with this type of appliance, it is not recommended to use the canning feature of electric multi-cookers.”

Some manufacturers of electric multi-cooker appliances have been including directions for home canning with their products since they began marketing them, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The companies have not done process development work to document temperatures throughout the units remain at a given pressure and throughout the whole process time, according to the Center. 

The Center was established with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CSREES-USDA) to address food safety concerns for those who practice and teach home food preservation and processing methods.

“We do not know if proper thermal process development work has been done in order to justify the canning advice that is distributed with these pressure multi-cooker appliances. What we do know is that our canning processes are not recommended for use in electric pressure multi-cookers at this time,” according to the center.

The center does have instructions for the public on proper canning techniques using stove-top pressure cookers, but those instructions to not apply to electric multi-cooker appliances. Even if such cookers have buttons or settings for “canning” or “steam canning” the devices should not be used for such purposes.

“Bacteria are not killed in the food only during the process time; the time it takes the canner to come up to pressure, the process time, and the cool-down time all matter,” according to the center.

Some of the other “major reasons” the center cannot recommend using electric multi-cookers for pressure canning are:


Thermal process canning work relates the temperatures in the jars to the temperature inside the canner throughout the processing. No USDA thermal process work has been done with jars inside an electric pressure cooker, tracking the actual temperatures inside the jars throughout the process. It is ultimately the temperature and heat distribution inside the jars that matters for the destruction of microorganism in the food product. The position of jars in the canner and flow of steam around them also impacts the temperature in the jars. For example, there would be expected differences in jars piled together on their sides from those standing upright on the canner base.
One manufacturer says its cooker reaches the pressure required for canning, but that alone does not prove the food in the jars is heated throughout at the same rate. . . Just producing an interior pressure is not sufficient data for canning recommendations. For example, if air is mixed in the steam, the temperature is lower than the same pressure of pure steam. That’s why a proper venting process is so important in pressure canning — to obtain a pure steam environment inside the canner. Also, one has to know how to make adjustments in pressure readings at higher altitudes. The same pressure and process time combination cannot be used at all altitudes.
In order to ensure the safety of the final product, the temperature in the canner must stay at minimum throughout the process time. Do power surges or drops with an electric canner cause the temperature to drop too low? How will you the user know if that happens with your cooker?
One of the big concerns is that the USDA low-acid pressure process times rely on a combination of heat from the time the canner is coming to pressure, during the actual process time, and then during the early stages of cooling the canner and jars. Even after the heat is turned off under the canner, at the end of the recommended process time, the food remains at high enough temperatures for another period of time that can still contribute to killing of bacteria. This retained heat while the canner has to cool naturally to zero pounds pressure before opening is used to advantage in calculating the total sterilizing value of the process to preserve some food quality. If anything is done to shorten the cooling period, including using a very small cooker, then the food could cool down more quickly, and be under-processed. That is why we recommend using only pressure cookers that hold four or more quart-size jars. Bacteria are not killed in the food only during the process time; the time it takes the canner to come up to pressure, the process time, and the cool-down time all matter.
Please note, the center’s information about electric multi-purpose cookers includes the following disclaimer:

This statement about electric cookers does NOT include the Ball Automatic Home Canner for acid foods only, which is electric, but (1) is not a “multi-cooker”, but a dedicated canner, (2) comes with its own instructions and pre-set canning options for specific food preparations, and (3) has had proper thermal process development done to support the recommendations with it. Jarden Home Brands also sells an electric boiling water canner, but it is not a pressurized appliance and for canning purposes operates similar to a traditional boiling water canner. Directions from the manufacturer for this Ball canner, as well as for the Weck non-pressurized electric boiling water canners, should be followed to get them assembled and for managing temperature settings to achieve a boiling process.

*Information about botulism poisoning*
While a variety of illnesses can result from eating under-processed canned food, one of the most dangerous is botulism poisoning. Untreated, botulism can quickly paralyze the muscles needed for breathing, resulting in sudden death.

“In foodborne botulism, symptoms generally begin 18 to 36 hours after eating a contaminated food. However, symptoms can begin as soon as 6 hours after or up to 10 days later,” according to the CDC website.

The symptoms of botulism may include some of all of the following: double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing, a thick-feeling tongue, dry mouth, and muscle weakness. People with botulism may not show all of these symptoms at once.

These symptoms all result from muscle paralysis caused by the toxin. If untreated, the disease may progress and symptoms may worsen to cause paralysis of certain muscles, including those used in breathing and those in the arms, legs, and the body from the neck to the pelvis area, also called the torso.

*(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, **click here**.)*


----------



## johnmeyer (May 20, 2019)

This is a stunning example of bad science and and even better example of lousy journalism.

What a crock.

What the article doesn't mention is that there are huge differences in traditional, non-electric crock pots in how well they retain the steam. This changes how long they will be able to maintain 250 degrees, the boiling temperature at sea level of a 15 psi cooker. This is not something unique to an electric cooker.

Somply put: the manner of generating heat (electric) has NOTHING to do with the safety or efficacy of the device. If it can get to 15 psi, all will be good. End of story. The idea that the USDA has to track the actual temperatures at various places inside the cooker is nonsense. There is zero evidence that a cylinder heated by electricity is going to have different hot spots from a cylinder heated by gas.

This is a "hit piece," pure and simple. The best example, out of many, is this sentence: _"Do power surges or drops with an electric canner cause the temperature to drop too low? How will you the user know if that happens with your cooker?"_ What rubbish!! "Power surges" would have to be strong enough to blow out the coils, an event that pretty much never happens to anyone, and power "drops" (a.k.a. brownouts) are far less common than in the old days, and once again would almost never cause a problem because a little less heating does NOT affect the final temperature, but instead simply means it will take a little longer to get up to full pressure. All recipes measure time from the moment your pressure cooker begins to hiss, indicating it has reached 15 psi, and do not rely on how long it takes to get there. Once at 15 psi, I always turn down the heat until I get a gentle hiss, in order to not burn the food on the bottom of the pot, and to save energy. Lower heat, once at pressure, is actually a good thing, and a wise thing to do.

Finally, as another example of the sinister intent of this bad article, some traditional cookers leak, and don't ever get to 250. You can see this in pressure cooker reviews (I've read lots of them). Where is the article about those stove-top cookers?

We have way too many of these stories which are, at their core, meant to scare people and change their behavior, but which do so based on no science, poor understanding of what is really going on, etc.

* I have not been able to find a single story about a botulism outbreak that was caused by a pressure cooker which failed to get to adequate temperature*, and not one case of this type was cited in this pathetic article.


----------



## daveomak (May 20, 2019)

Interesting reading.....

https://www.cnet.com/news/instant-pot-max-home-canning-safety/
https://www.hippressurecooking.com/consumer-alert-no-pressure-canning-in-un-tested-multi-cookers/
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/electric_cookers.html
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/pressurecookers.html


----------



## Lonzinomaker (May 20, 2019)

I understood instant pots only get to 12 PSI, not 15 PSI.


----------



## daveomak (May 20, 2019)

Lonzinomaker said:


> I understood instant pots only get to 12 PSI, not 15 PSI.




...  Me too...  and...   There is a difference between pressure cookers and pressure canners..


----------



## Jonok (May 20, 2019)

Well, if it ain’t gonna hit 250, that’s on the user. Instapots are not marketed as canning devices.


----------



## daveomak (May 20, 2019)

The new Instant Pot Max has a canning feature. Is it safe?
The newest model of the popular small appliance will come with a home canning setting. But guidance from the *USDA* and the *makers of Instant Pot *......   *warn against using an electric pressure cooker for certain types of canning*.

An Instant Pot representative said the company is currently in discussions with the NCHFP.

The NCHFP hasn't tested its researched canning methods on electric pressure cookers like the Instant Pot Max, so it can't independently confirm that conditions are hot enough inside countertop pressure cookers to kill bacteria when you process your jars, Andress said. Therefore, the center doesn't recommend you use the canning methods in electric, multicooker appliances. 

"You can't just assume that what works in a 16-quart stovetop pressure canners works in a small electric canner," Andress said.

And it's not clear what type of processing Instant Pot wants you to use with the canning button on the Max. Instant Pot's website only recommends its products broadly for boiling-water canning, not pressure canning, but the Max model isn't listed on the Instant Pot website yet, so it's unclear whether this recommendation applies to the new unit's canning function.


----------



## Jonok (May 20, 2019)

I have an All American 21 qt that tells me pressure and temp (on my big commercial range, though)

 On the other hand, I managed to skate having grown up on non-acidic veggies like green beans canned in Ball jars in a Granite Ware pot.   

Was it foolproof? 
Nope.
Did everyone worry about botulism?
Yup.
Did we toss anything that even looked remotely funny?
Yup.
Can significant C. botulinum toxin production occur absent a bunch of gas production? 
Probably, but uncommonly.  Usually the jar is unsealed or the can is swollen.
Did me make damned sure we heated everything to a slow boil for 10 min before we ate it? 
Yup. 

So, life is a little bit of a crapshoot, but if I were faced with the prospect of no pressure at altitude, vs some pressure at altitude, I’d go with the latter...


----------



## johnmeyer (May 20, 2019)

The links to the other articles all point back to the same "National Center for Home Food Preservation" story as in post #1, so they are circular.

This is what bothers me about the Internet: a story gets published once and then re-posted/re-tweated/re-linked and as a result, becomes "fact."

If the original Instant Pot model was only 12 psi (and some quick research suggests that this is true), then I can see the problem. However, that is *NOT* what the article says. In fact "PSI" is never used in the article. Instead, it lumps together ALL electric cookers, as if electricity is the issue, rather than the gauge of the metal and quality of the sealing, both of which contribute to the ability to reach and maintain higher pressures.

Many electric pressure cookers reach and maintain 15 psi and should be perfectly OK to use for canning.

I did a little more research and still cannot find one single article, from the beginning of history until today, which documented a case of botulism which was caused by a pressure cooker failing to get and maintain 250°F/15 psi. I'm certainly not going to claim that 12psi is going to be perfectly safe, but my guess is that compared to all the other things that home canners screw up, only having 12 psi is pretty minor.

Once again, this is a hit piece, much like all the garbage articles from the awful "Center for Science in the Public Interest" which regularly puts outs warnings about pretty much everything you've ever put in your mouth (popcorn, Mexican food, Chinese food), and gets people all worked up over absolutely nothing.

The reason I am posting is that this stuff turns normal people into absolute horrors. We have a family member who has been brainwashed by this stuff. She, of course, is vegan. When she visited a few weeks ago, she sat at the dinner table while we ate (she would not eat her stuff in front of us). She sipped some sort of tea, made with some strange herb (even green tea is off her list). The poor woman never enjoys eating, and forces those around her to suffer as well.

This stuff has consequences.


----------



## 6GRILLZNTN (May 20, 2019)

Next thing they're going to do is to tell us not to rinse poultry before cooking.  Oh Wait!


----------



## bill ace 350 (May 20, 2019)

Utah State says they're not safe, University of Kentucky says it is ok to cure a ham with salt, pepper and sugar....

Who can you believe these days?


----------

