Food Safety, Onions

[Meg]

Got this in an e-,mail from my best friend:


ONIONS

PLEASE READ TO THE END: IMPORTANT

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that
visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu.
Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very
healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different
the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the
rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't
believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under
the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu
virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping
the family healthy.
Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several
years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were
many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions
around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must
work.. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu.

Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who
regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this
most interesting experience about onions:

Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmers story.. but, I do
know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill.. I came
across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put it into an
empty jar...placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the
onion would be black in the morning from the germs.. sure enough it happened
just like that.. the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around
the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful
antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

This is the other note.

Lots of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame.
Maybe it's the onions that are to blame. Onions absorb bacteria is the
reason they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu's and is
the very reason we shouldn't eat an onion that has been sitting for a time
after it has been cut open.

LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS

I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of
mayonnaise.. Mullins is huge, and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in the
Mullins family. My friend, Jeanne, is the CEO.

Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned
from a chemist.

The guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. He's one of the brothers Ed is a
chemistry expert and is involved in developing most of the sauce formula.
He's even developed sauce formula for McDonald's.

Keep in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone
asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always
worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said
that all commercially- made Mayo is completely safe.

"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but
it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at
a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked
about the quaint essential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on
the table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.

Ed says that! when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials
look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came
from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as
it's not homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the
onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.

He explained, onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked
onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion.. He says
it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your
refrigerator.

It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit,
that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you
put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!) Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'! ll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.

Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions.

Please remember it is dangerous to cut an onion and try to use it to cook
the next day, it becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and
creates toxic bacteria which may cause adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions and even food poisoning.


Please pass this on to all you love and care.

We used to feed the dogs spaghetti when I was a kid, and it always gave them diarrhea. We always thought it was the pasta, but it may well have been onions in the sauce. Turkey and chocolate are also toxic to dogs, so NEVER feed those to a dog for any reason!

[anath]

[livin_in_the_Son]

Wow, that's really interesting! I wonder what makes it more suceptible after cutting? The onion skin ijs't super thick, so how does it prevent onions from spoiling before cutting? I'm gonna try this whole cut onion thing next time someone gets sick! Thanks!

[readytogo]

That's interesting about the onions... I knew about the mayonnaise thing. A few weeks ago, I left a practically new jar of mayonnaise out of the fridge overnight. The next day, when I saw it, I was sick about it. "Common sense" told me to throw it out, but "poverty" said to put it back in the fridge. I went online and do some research. Just because it was left out overnight didn't mean that it was bad! I've been eating it ever since! Not sick at all. What goes bad is something that is mixed into mayo. Potatoes, meat, onions, etc. I never thought of onions as being something though that would prevent illnesses. Thanks for the article!

[Forgiven]

Thanks Meg, I'll definitely try that this year.

An onion next to my bed sounds a lot safer than waking up on the floor next to my bed after taking Nyquil

[Lynn]

This information was sent to me by a family member several months ago. I am one of those people who use only part of an onion and place the remainder of the cut onion in a baggie on the counter top. I've been doing this for years and so far, no problems.

[LivnForChrist]

Well, this is what Snopes said about it.

[Hannah]

My mother and grandmother have for years used half an onion and left it until the next day to finish. Not even placed it in the fridge.

I leave my half onion in the fridge.

I try to use everything up quickly but I only cook for two and at times I have half of this or that.

Not sure what these people do to commercial mayonaise to make it not attract bacteria. Being PH balanced doesn't mean you will not see it actually go mouldy or eventually attract bacteria. It only means it is harder for bacteria to grow but not impossible because nothing remains 100% at the PH where bacteria won't grow because of rotting. Everything chemically breaks down so it's PH balance will eventually change. If the do something to stop that process you would hope it isn't something like formaldehyde that the put in it to stop the rotting process. {I have no idea what they do to the commercial mayonaise to keep it's PH balanced but now I am wondering}

The science in the article doesn't fully add up to me.

All food begins to spoil after it is picked and even quicker once it is cut. Add too much heat and you will see food spoil.

Cold makes it hard for most bacteria to grow, that is what refridgeration actually does is delay spoilage.

I've been told by a Naturopath (as I have allergies to moulds) to not eat anything more than two days old from the fridge. Actually he said if I could avoid anything that has been in the fridge for more than a day. You won't see the moulds or fungus until it is mature. So we often eat some sort of bacteria when we eat leftovers. The human body can tolerate small amounts.

So it is important to keep your food at the right temperatures to delay spoilage. Hot food needs to remain hot and cold foods of course need remain cold. Anything in between is great bacteria growing temperatures.

Try to use your vegetables and meats that you take out to cook straight away. Store your leftovers as soon as possible at the correct temperature.

This is what is taught in commercial food service hygiene. Easy to find on the internet what temperatures to keep your foods and how to properly cool down cooked foods to store in your fridge or freezer.

Onions when taken out of the ground have for years prior to refridgeration been stored along with other root vegetables in cellars. Harvested in Summer and used for months on end by farmers to feed their family until the next crop. If onions had the ability to soak in bacteria so easily it would never have been safe in the past to store and use in that way. So this article doesn't add up to the historical use of Onions.

If Onions were such good bacteria sponges you we would have seen many people getting food poisoning from them over the years. Forget the Chicken and Rice that are supposed to be the worst offenders now avoid the onions as well? It is always prudent to be careful of food that has been pre-prepared and left for long periods before serving.

I know many of my relatives just kept their onions and potatoes in their pantries in boxes out of the sun. I store mine in a cool dark place (no enough room in my fridge vegetable draw).

Bacteria is often a surface dweller and doesn't just float in the air. Why do people manage to get a lot of colds or viruses? Bacteria on doorhandles, escalators, Supermarket shopping trolley handles, tables and chairs you touch in public all have bacteria that happily landed there. I cannot imagine that putting onions in any shop or store will soak up all of the bacteria floating around. Some bacteria is passed onto another surface from an infected persons hands, not just sneezing.

I have a low immune system. I am careful of what I touch and use anti-bacterial gel when I am out in public and I try to wash my hands as often as I can. I still manage to get something no matter how careful I am. That's Life.

[Meg]

I thought the onion thing might be worth a try, but I am still and always will be very careful with mayonnaise.

[readyforhome]

Weren't onions part of the food scares that were happening a few years ago due to contaminated water supplies? I remember going into a Burger King and as I like onions on my burgers, I tried to order my burger with onions. Though I was told they couldn't do so because they couldn't get any onions due to the contaminated onions. Course it was a blessing in disguise as my wife doesn't like to kiss me with onion breath.

[Longing2cJesus]

At 72 years old and having been cooking for 55 years for me and my family, onions are a very important ingredient in my cooking.

I use half an onion and peel the left over half and place it in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate it. I have cut up onions and freeze them in freezer bags. I have bought frozen cut up onions at the grocery store.

When I buy onions I want them to look as clean and as fresh as possible. A lot of times onions will have mold on them from improper storage and age. Those I won't buy.

When I was little we had a grocery and onions came in the large burlap sacks. We placed them on an open (not refrigerated) veggie bin for the customers to select from and additional onions were stored in the burlap bag in the storage room till later use.

My family being a combination of Cajun and Italian from Louisiana have used onions all their lives (a staple LOL) and I have never heard that left over onions are poisonous.

No matter what foods one uses one has to select the freshest possible and use proper storage for leftovers.

And most important being Christian one should always pray a Blessing on our foods along with giving thanks for our food.

[Meg]

Thanks for posting the Snopes link, Livin. Mattfivefour alerted me to the fact that Snopes says the onion story is false earlier today, I have to pass that along to my friend with an admonition to wash her hands often. Its a relief to know onions can be safely stored, sometimes we buy fresh onions and store them in the fridge. Sorry for posting a myth there, my friend's usually reliable but I guess it doesn't hurt to check...