The introductory passage describes the way that improper canning and food preparation led to a botulism outbreak following a common pattern, even though an unusually large number of individuals became sick in this incident. What would have been a possible sequence of steps by which the outbreak occurred? Place the following in the order that they occurred.
a. The Clostridium botulinum endospores survived boiling and canning.
b. The participants in the church potluck consumed the contaminated potato salad and became ill.
c. The anoxic conditions in the cans of potatoes were favorable for germination.
d. The potatoes were contaminated with soil containing Clostridium botulinum endospores.
e. Bacterial cells produced and secreted toxin in increasing amounts as their numbers grow.
f. Clostridium botulinum replicated and increased in number within the canned potatoes.
g. The contaminated potatoes were used to prepare potato salad.