Milan, IL — Planning to preserve your garden’s summer bounty? Before you start canning, make sure your pressure canner is working properly. University of Illinois Extension is offering free pressure canner testing to help home canners stay safe and confident this season.
Testing is available through Nutrition and Wellness Educator Kristin Bogdonas at the Illinois Extension office in Milan. Residents may also drop off canners at the Mercer County office in Viola or the Henry/Stark office in Galva. Please allow additional time for testing if dropping off at Viola or Galva, as all tests are conducted in Milan.
The testing process takes about 15 minutes and checks the accuracy of your dial gauge. An inaccurate gauge can result in under-processed food, posing serious health risks like botulism. Ensuring your gauge is accurate is a critical step in safe home food preservation.
To learn more about safe food preservation practices, visit Illinois Extension’s Food Preservation website or view helpful canning videos at
go.illinois.edu/ILExtensionCanningVideos.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 700 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through six program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, family and consumer science, integrated health disparities, and natural resources, environment, and energy.