Canned Food Safety: Does Boiling Kill Botulism?

Yes, boiling canned food for at least ten minutes at rolling boil will kill vegetative C. botulinum cells and toxins that may present in or on commercially-canned foods when they are defective. However, home-canned foods should not be treated this way because they're usually not acid foods and may therefore harbor C. botulinum spore which can survive boiling water temperatures.