Botulism is very dangerous... especially since you can't tell by sight or smell that it's present. But it's actually fairly easy to protect yourself from it (if it wasn't, we wouldn't be alive today). There are almost certainly botulism spores present on most foods you eat raw or lightly cooked; but as soon as they hit your stomach the hydrochloric acid present destroys the spores. Thorough cooking neutralizes the toxin in imperfectly canned foods. You are more at risk getting infected by eating in a restaurant with poor storage practices. I know of a woman who got it from a baked potato that had been wrapped in foil (excluding the oxygen that would have slowed it down) and then held at too low a temperature for too long. Luckily, she survived because the doctor recognized the symptoms and called in for the antitoxin (which, by the way, the country's entire stock of antitoxin is kept in DC and flown out by special jet when needed. Gives you an idea of how rare infection is)
