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Pressure can low-acid foods safely

Vegetables, meat, poultry, fish and other low-acid foods (pH above 4.6) can carry botulism spores that survive boiling. CDC and USDA say a pressure canner is the only recommended way to can them at home.

How

  1. Get the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning (2015 revision), free from the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and use only its tested recipes or recipes based on it.
  2. Use a real stovetop pressure canner that holds at least four 1-quart jars upright. CDC warns against electric multi-cookers, even ones with a canning button.
  3. Have dial gauges tested every year before use; replace a gauge that reads more than about 0.14 bar (2 psi) high or low. Weighted gauges do not need testing. Many extension offices test gauges.
  4. Adjust pressure for altitude using the recipe's table. For example, Virginia Cooperative Extension lists a dial gauge at 11 psi up to 2,000 ft (610 m), rising to 15 psi at 8,001 to 10,000 ft.
  5. Vent the canner with a steady flow of steam for 10 full minutes before adding the weight or closing the petcock.
  6. Time processing only once the correct pressure is reached, and keep it steady. If it drops below target, bring it back and restart the timing.
  7. Let the canner depressurise on its own. Never cool it with water or remove the weight early. Wait 10 minutes after depressurising before opening.
  8. Check seals 12 to 24 hours later. Refrigerate any jar that did not seal and eat it within three days, or reprocess within 24 hours with a new lid.
  9. Remove screw bands, wash jars, label with date and contents, and store at 10 to 21 C (50 to 70 F). Can only what you will use within a year.
  10. For high-acid foods such as fruit, jams and acidified tomatoes, follow the water-bath canning method in food-30; low-acid foods need a pressure canner.

Safety: Botulism can kill. Never use a boiling water bath, oven, open kettle or multi-cooker for low-acid foods. CDC advises boiling home-canned low-acid foods and tomatoes for 10 minutes before eating (add 1 minute per 1,000 ft above 1,000 ft). Throw out any jar that is bulging, leaking, spurting, mouldy or smells wrong, and never taste to test. If in doubt, throw it out.

Do these first

Sources

  1. Home-Canned Foods and Botulism Prevention. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accessed 2026-11
  2. USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2015 revision: Introduction. National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia / USDA, accessed 2026-11
  3. About the USDA Guide to Home Canning, 2015 revision. National Center for Home Food Preservation, accessed 2026-11
  4. Boiling Water Bath and Pressure Canning (Publication 348-585). Virginia Cooperative Extension, accessed 2026-11
  5. Pressure Canning Basics. Michigan State University Extension, accessed 2026-11
  6. Testing Pressure Canner Dial Gauges. University of New Hampshire Extension, accessed 2026-11
  7. UC Master Food Preserver: Pressure Canner Gauge Testing. University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, accessed 2026-11

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