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Certain foods are more likely to harm your stomach than others. Cucumber brought Salmonella, peaches are contaminated listeria monocytogeneseating a salad feels a bit like Russian roulette. Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and sprouts are all considered to have a high risk of foodborne illness. (Scott Faber, a food safety expert with the Environmental Working Group, told me bluntly: “Don’t eat sprouts.”)
In comparison, onions have a sacred aura. They are endowed with natural properties that are thought to protect against food poisoning, and are additionally subjected to a curing process that acts as a safety net. One analysis by the CDC found that from 1998 to 2013, onions sickened 161 people, while leafy greens sickened more than 7,000 people. Former FDA Food Safety Director Susan Mayne said onions are not considered a “significant hazard.”
No more. Late last month, McDonald’s temporarily suspended sales of Quarter Pounders in certain states after at least 90 people became ill after eating them. Escherichia coli. Last Wednesday, the CDC announced that the likely culprit was sliced onions. This is the fourth time since 2020 that onions have caused a food poisoning outbreak in multiple states, with a total of at least 2,337 people infected, according to available data. During the same period, leafy greens caused eight outbreaks across multiple states, affecting 844 people. Suddenly, the United States seems to have an onion problem, but no one knows exactly what’s causing it.
The investigation into the cause of the outbreak at McDonald’s is still ongoing, but the problem likely started where most food poisonings begin: on-site. Often the cause is contaminated water used to irrigate crops. An outbreak can start as simple as a nearby creature defecating near a vegetable. Additional processing, such as pre-packaged shredding of onions, can provide more opportunities for bacteria to spread. Therefore, the FDA considers most pre-cut raw vegetables to be high risk. (Like other foods, heating onions to 165 degrees F kills pathogens.)
However, the fact that the onions appear to be contaminated Escherichia coli and Salmonella Totally impressive. Onions have long been thought to have antibacterial properties that help fight bacteria. Hippocrates once recommended using onions as suppositories to cleanse the body. placed on the wound during the French and Indian War. Thankfully, medical knowledge has advanced since then, but onions’ antibacterial properties have also been proven by modern science. In various laboratory experiments, researchers found that onion juice and dried onions inhibited onion growth. Escherichia coli and Salmonella. And in 2004, researchers discovered that: Escherichia coli Microorganisms in the soil die faster when surrounded by onion plants than when surrounded by carrot plants, a result attributed to “the presence of high concentrations of antimicrobial phenolic compounds in onions.” The authors said it is possible.
Onions have another powerful food safety weapon. It’s papery skin. According to research, It acts as a barrier to protect the inside of the onion from bacteria on the surface. The way you handle onions requires an extra layer of protection. To extend the shelf life of onions, they are dried, sometimes for several weeks, after they are harvested. In theory, this curing process should kill most bacteria. Stuart Reitz, an onion expert at Oregon State University, intentionally sprayed his onions. Escherichia coli– It was found that when mixed water was used, a significant amount of bacteria was killed during the curing process. Lights said this is probably due to the effects of ultraviolet light from the sun and because dry surfaces are less conducive to bacterial growth.
But clearly, onions do not protect against contamination. The onion experts I spoke to offered several plausible theories. Linda Harris, a food safety professor at the University of California, Davis, hypothesizes that the bacteria may evade the onion’s protective skin by entering through the onion’s green surface and descending into the layers of the onion itself. erected. Also, onions may have antibacterial properties, but that alone may not necessarily be enough to prevent disease. Escherichia coli Michael Doyle, a food microbiologist at the University of Georgia, said the infection is here to stay. When it comes to antibacterial activity, “all onions are not created equal,” he said. And it’s also possible that McDonald’s onions were infected just by chance. one of the rights recent research As for the effect of hardening, it turned out that spraying on onions at 2%. Escherichia coli Even after healing, detectable levels of bacteria remained.
Still, this doesn’t explain why onions seem to cause more food poisoning now. Harris told me that she and her colleagues have spent “a lot of time trying to figure out how these outbreaks happen, and we don’t have the answers.” Unfortunately, the cause of Onion’s heel turn may never be understood. Regulatory authorities are often unable to determine the exact cause of foodborne illness outbreaks. The same may be true of McDonald’s debacle, although no definitive cause could be found for three other recent onion outbreaks.
This whole situation illustrates the incredible mystery of food poisoning. In reality, such outbreaks are rare but can be dangerous. One person died after eating a contaminated Quarter Pounder, and a 15-year-old boy had to undergo dialysis to prevent kidney failure. But we continue to face more questions than answers about all the technology and science involved in food safety, from sequencing the genomes of foodborne pathogens to blockchain technology that tracks crops from farm to store shelf. Masu. America has more problems with everything than onions.
