
Salmonella outbreak linked to onions in 43 US states - finphil
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/08/health/onions-salmonella-outbreak/index.html
======
lisper
[https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-
safety...](https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-
alerts/thomson-international-inc-conducts-voluntary-recall-red-yellow-white-
and-sweet-yellow-onions-because)

~~~
jeffbee
I love how these onions are sold under fifty different fictitious brands, many
of which are using highly misleading labeling and packaging. Maybe I'm just
old fashioned, but it seem dishonest to sell California onions in a bag that
prominently announces "UTAH ONIONS" and doesn't say "California" on it
anywhere.

------
tzs
Three weeks ago I bought a red onion. I have no idea if it was one of the
affected brands. I have been eating it ever since, nearly every day, mostly
raw on sandwiches. I've consumed maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of it.

Question: can I infer from not getting sick yet that my onion is not one of
the contaminated ones? Or does the way this works is that only parts of the
onion are contaminated, and it is possible that by chance I simply haven't
gotten to the contaminated part and I should discard this thing?

------
squeezingswirls
[https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/newport-07-20/index.html](https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/newport-07-20/index.html)

------
syntaxing
Planet money had a really good episode about the romaine salmonella outbreak.
The problem was that the water supply was tainted because it would go through
protected federal land and the feces of the animal grazing on the land would
get into the water supply. I wonder if this is the case for the onions.

------
reeealloc
Why can't this salmonella be cooked out safely?

~~~
xboxnolifes
You don't always cook onions.

------
ectoplasmaboiii
And the UK govt wants to lower its food standards to do a trade deal with the
states :)

(No offence to any american friends. I love your country, but your food has
some problems.)

~~~
ralph84
The country famous for BSE is in a bit of a glass house when it comes to
farming practices.

~~~
ectoplasmaboiii
Sure, we're not great. But it blows my mind that you would ever want to
_lower_ the quality of the food you are eating.

~~~
oh_sigh
It wouldn't make sense in a world with infinite and free food, but that is not
the world we live in.

~~~
ben_w
The UK isn’t suffering from food shortages. Not yet, anyway.

Allocation between rich and poor is an issue, but the net imports and
production are enough to cause widespread obesity.

~~~
oh_sigh
There doesn't need to be a food shortage - the question is what percent of
income do the poor spend on food, and would they spend less if they could?

~~~
rsynnott
Bear in mind that food poisoning isn’t free. It is not in society’s interest
to have people off work sick, taking up medical capacity, and dying early. The
advances in food safety over the 20th and 21st century was a great social
good, and backsliding would be bad.

I do think that one problem, particularly in societies like the US where
people don’t go to their GP very frequently, is that it’s pretty hard to
measure impacts, because there’s little reliable data on mild (but
economically impactful) cases.

------
notavegan
There would be no outbreak if farmers didn't use animal manure to fertilize
their vegetable crops. That's the real source of salmonella.

~~~
goalieca
As a layman, it would seem more desirable to use pasteurized manure than
petrochemical based fertilizers.

~~~
Exmoor
Is this based on anything other than an gut distrust of "chemicals"? I am,
admittedly, a layman as well, but my understanding is that fertilizers are
essentially distillations of the important elements (Nitrogen, Potassium,
Phosphate) which you would get from manure, but without the risk of food
poisoning.

~~~
maxerickson
It's a good way to dispose of the manure. It's beneficial to the soil and
pretty much any other disposal will cost more than spreading it on fields.

Chemical fertilizer is used because it increases yields well beyond crop
rotation (and because minerals are depleted over time).

