Left Over Onions Are Poisonous
I have used an onion which has been left in the fridge, and sometimes I don’t use a whole one at one time, so save the other half for later.
Now with this info, I have changed my mind….will buy smaller onions in the future.
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.
So, how’s that for news? Take it for what you will. I (the author) am going to be very careful about my onions from now on. For some reason, I see a lot of credibility coming from a chemist and a company that produces millions of pounds of mayonnaise every year.’
Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions.
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Very troubling. I’ve been saving half onions in the fridge for as long as I’ve been allowed to use a knife. Never had a problem. And if I ever did have a problem, I blamed the mayo. Oh, dear…
Dear Pieter
Why do you post articles on this blog which were written by other people and are easily traceable via google? I did not notice that you give credit to or refer to the original writers?
Sophia
Hi Sophia
I received this wonderful article via email and like most emails the authors is not mentioned. I loved it and shared it with my readers just like hundreds of people before me that emailed it to their friends.
You can read through my post and notice I always place the authors details at the bottom if I can find it.
In the beginning I did try to find authors but not every article is traceable and I gave up.
I did a Google search and the author is Zola Gorgon
Zola Gorgon? She is the person who wrote the cook book that this MYTH is based on. Her name is a play on ‘Gorgonzola’ smelly cheese!
Thanks Geert!
This article became the most read article of all time om my blog. This is definitely proof that a great story is worth its weight in gold.
Zola is actually an invention, an alter-ego, a double life of Madison CEO Sarah McCann. The story is fictional and there are no proof of the statements made here.
But what a great story!
Pieter you are a dush
You have posted something all over the web that is entirely un-true. What about using onions to get over the flu?? I mean really; why bother?? is it for attention?? Spreading rumours is fun isnt it??
Yippee someone added to my blog!! Im a super cool!!
Hi Mars
A Dush?
I did not write it and was also fooled by the story but (and there is always a but), it did wonders for the blog and thats why I kept it.
Public Warning: Do not believe everything you read!!!
I am 73 years of age, and have been eating leftover onions from the fridge for years, I was running marathons into my sixties, at 65 I was still running 4 miles every day on Dartmoor, plus half hour in the gym, raw leftover onions have never done me any harm, I admit I was curious, when I got this e-mail from a nephew, and started looking it up on the web, but it seems to be the same guy posting it all over the place,could it just be a crafty way of mentioning his mates Mayonnaise company, anyway, I know they don’t hurt me , so I will carry on as usual.