One of the largest botulism outbreaks in the U.S. began on March 28, 1977, when a Mexican restaurant in Pontiac served hot sauce made out of improperly home-canned jalapeño peppers.

The first cases of type B botulism were reported to state health officials three days later, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and what is today called the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Ultimately, 58 Michiganders and one person visiting from Ohio were sickened, some very seriously. No one died.

Trini and Carmen's restaurant had previously used fresh peppers, but switched to canned ones March 28.

The vegetables were canned in the fall of 1976, in anticipation of an expected shortage of jalapeños that winter. The outbreak was the second one in the U.S. that year caused by incorrectly canned jalapeños.

Symptoms included constipation, double vision, sensitivity to light, speech problems, nausea and vomiting, stomach pains, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness and general weakness.

Oakland County officials closed the eatery March 31 and seized 147 jars of peppers.

The American Journal of Epidemiology later reported that the canner used proper jars, lids and rings, but didn't reboil some jars after filling them: "After a number of days, some of the jars began to explode on their shelves. ... The jars that did not explode were kept."

The largest previous botulism outbreak was in Michigan in 1921, when three people died and 29 people got sick with type A botulism after eating commercially-canned spinach, according to the CDC.