One of the recommendations for enabling a young child to pick up some of the more slippery foods is to coat them with bread crumbs or graham cracker crumbs. While looking for graham crackers at the store, we found honey graham crackers. Considering that exposure to honey can cause infant botulism, I was wondering if the honey graham crackers are safe for him to eat?
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11Whatever the answer is, I would strongly advice you to ask your pediatrician rather than seeking for medical advice on the Internet.– nicoJul 7, 2011 at 19:06
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@nico, definitely. This is just a sanity check prior to asking as the next appointment isn't for a month.– rcollyerJul 7, 2011 at 19:08
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1I wonder if the honey in a commercial product is processed to remove any botulism toxin. Maybe somebody from Nabisco will chime in, I don't see anything on their web site.– user194Jul 7, 2011 at 19:18
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Is there actually real honey in them? Anyway the other ingredients are probably not very healthy. Put some plain oats in a food processor, and make crumbs from them. At least you know what's in it– TFDJul 7, 2011 at 23:45
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1@TFD: At least some brands of graham crackers say "made with real honey" on the box.– Cascabel ♦Jul 8, 2011 at 5:52
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3 Answers
That bit of the Wikipedia article is unsourced, but Health Canada confirms and says that spores may be present even in pasteurized honey. (I never would have thought that.)
I wouldn't expect the cooking of the crackers to damage the spores significantly more than the pasteurization. I can't say for sure that there will be live spores in the crackers, but it's a definite possibility and if you're concerned about this then you should not risk it.
You say "toddler" and not "infant", which leads me to believe that you"re referring to a child that's at least one. At least in Canada, the honey prohibition is only for children sub 12 months. In which case, yes, it is safe to feed a toddler honey.
Either way, lots of sugar in Graham crackers. Try panko; my kids love It crusted on pretty much anything.
Since the toxin producing spores need a moist environment to germinate and cooking destroys any residual toxin that may have existed in the honey prior to processing, I would say honey graham crackers are safe for kids.
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1Please check the article again. The moist environment is the infant's intestines. In adults, the established microbes will outcompete botulism spores, but this is not yet the case in toddlers. That's why they are specifically vulnerable to botulism spores.– MSaltersJul 8, 2011 at 13:33
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According to the CDC the temperatures achieved by a pressure cooker are sufficient for neutralizing spores in a low acid canning application. Other sources quote the required temperature for killing the spores between 240-250 degrees. I would think a cracker would reach this temperature during high heat industrial baking, but I wasn't able to find a source confirming this.– AaronNJul 8, 2011 at 16:31
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1You might want to specify degrees F or C. 240°F sounds too low to kill spores, and 240°C sounds far too hot. The sugars in honey would dissociate, not to mention a lot of other complex organic compounds.– MSaltersJul 11, 2011 at 9:24
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