I would say yes, it would probably kill most of the bacteria. Realize,
of course, that some bacteria form spores, and the only way to kill them
is by applying heat under pressure, in an autoclave setting.
I realize you think I'm splitting hairs here, but it is important that
people realize that boiling does not get rid of ALL bacteria. However,
the enteric pathogens mentioned (Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter)
will be destroyed by boiling.
If you read up on canning, there are two types of canning: boiling water
bath and pressure canning. The latter is used for preservation of low
acid foods like corn, green beans, meat, etc. This is to ensure that a
famous spore former, Clostridium botulinum, is destroyed. C. botulinum
is an anaerobic bacteria (lives without air) that forms spores. The only
way the vegetative spore (which allows the bacteria to survive to
reproduce under less stressful conditions) can be destroyed is by high
heat under pressure that will raise the temperature above the boiling
point. Botulism is the illness you get when you eat improperly canned
foods. The TOXIN from the bacteria is what kills you, not the bacteria
itself.
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/foods/348-595/348-595.html
Perhaps this page from the CDC will help you further.
http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/ and this
http://tinyurl.com/2fpjx (one of the links on the CDC page, shortened to
a postable link)
Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP)
Microbiology
"barb28" <barb28 at rock.com> wrote in message
news:9a3d5e23.0405180409.3737f6cd at posting.google.com...
>> Yes, I'm aware that it looks bad, but what I was
> wondering, was, heaven forbid, it is missed and drys
> on there..would filling the pot to full, and boiling
> that sucker for about half an hour or an hour (some
> of the dried crud would still be there), improve the
> odds that it would not be able to harbor this kind of
> bacteria. I'm asking a very specific question here.
> Thanks.
