Red Onions Cause a Salmonella Sickness Outbreak, Says FDA

Have you heard about the big news from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? It turns out a sheep farm might have had a part in some onions making people sick. Let me break it down for you.

So, back in 2020, there was an outbreak which made over 1,000 people in the United States and more than 500 folks in Canada feel pretty awful! Apparently, the red onions from California were linked to these sicknesses. This was actually the biggest Salmonella outbreak in more than 10 years - and it was the first time that whole red onions were found to be the cause.

The experts did a lot of testing and found some samples of water and dirt near the onion fields had the same kind of Salmonella that made people sick. But they didn't find it everywhere. They have a guess that maybe the water used to grow these onions in Holtville, California could have had something to do with the onions getting contaminated.

Even though they didn't check the places while onions were being packed, they saw enough to think there were lots of ways things could have gotten messy. There could have been animals or pests getting in, and maybe the places where the onions touched weren't kept as clean as they should have been.

Good news is, the folks who made these onions, Thomson International Inc., are working with the FDA to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Interesting tidbit: Some of the same Salmonella found near the fields was similar to what they found in people who got sick from eating sprouts a few years ago. This means that there might be something about this area that keeps the bad bugs around, and that could be risky for any food grown there.

The FDA is all about making sure growers think about what's going on around their farms, like if there are animals around that could carry germs into their crops, and they want them to do their best to keep their produce safe.

That's the big update, folks! Keep an eye out for your food and stay safe out there!