r/Cooking•
THEGramer

Botulism scare question

Hey guys! My girlfriend has been bugging me about something and I wanted to ask the opinion of y'all to help put her mind at ease...

We kind of made a mistake a week ago and after making a pork and veggies stew in lots of red wine (like 2 liters that got shimmered down) we forgot the pot of the stew on the kitchen counter because we left in a hurry... (It's a classic stainless steel 6L pot with a lid with 3 small ventilation holes on the top on one side)

Now today we came back home earlier and noticed that, of course I opened a plastic trash bag and emptied the contents but I didn't want to throw the pot away of course so I got to scrubbing with hot water and a sponge with some dish soap a few times thoroughly...

Now she is scared that in the middle of the stew or the bottom etc botulism might have managed to produce toxins and subsequently have been passed from the sponge to other dishes and utensils afterwards or that it might have somehow "infected" me if any splashed back on me while cleaning

Now I know she's really concerned about me and I went to put her mind at ease, because I said I'm tired and my eyes are heavy (it's like 23:00 here a solid 10 hours since I cleaned that pot and cooked) and she's really worrying... So is there even a remote possibility anything like this could even occur?

Thank you everyone!

Posted Feb 15, 2026, 8:30 PM UTC

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