Hello everyone!  Thought I'd talk about two things in one mail.  Hope it's
OK.  RE: Picky eaters
I've been reading about how different people handle "problems" associated
with children and eating.  A very good book I refer to is called "How to get
your kids to eat...but not too much."  by Ellen Satter.  She talks about
eating behaviors from infants to teens.  I think it's available from Bull
Publishing.

RE:Honey & infant botulism
I asked our communicable disease bureau chief about honey and infant
botulism and she gave me several references.  One, the Foodborne Disease
Handbook, Vol. 1, by Hui, et al. states the the "spores in honey & other
infant foods pose a unique hazard because, in some infants, the spores are
able to colonize the intestines, produce toxin, and cause infant botulism.
Honey is the only food implicated in infant botulism.  While Clostridium
botulinum has been detected in such other infant foods as corn syrup and
rice cereal, exposure of infants to botulinum spores via these foods seems
to be minimal because the levels are low and unlikely to increase during
manufacture and storage."
In the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control policy and procedure manual
for our state (Missouri) botulism is categorized either as foodborne, wound,
infant and unclassified cases.  Foodborne botulism results from the
ingestion of preformed toxins which are produced when food contaminated with
C. botulinum spores are improperly preserved and stored under anerobic
(without oxygen) conditions.  Infant botulism occurs after the spores are
ingested.  The spores germinate, multiply, and produce the botulism
neurotoxin in the infant's GI tract.  (This is the most common form of
botulism in the US.)
Hope this helps!
Debbie M-H (Missouri)