A batch of fresh onions, believed to be linked to a growing salmonella outbreak, is being voluntarily recalled.
In an advisory posted Thursday on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website, ProSource Produce said whole onions – red, white, and yellow – are potentially contaminated with salmonella.
Dozens of Americans have been sickened by Mexican onions contaminated by Salmonella. In Virginia alone, 59 fell ill. The infected produce was distributed nationwide. So far, “129 people were hospitalized in the outbreak.”
The number of cases is expected to increase.
The voluntary recall, announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 1, 2020, includes red, yellow, white, and sweet yellow onions distributed by Thomson International Inc. of Bakersfield, California, from May 1, 2020, to the present in the United States and Canada.
The recall of the onions comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announce the relationship between the onions that were imported from Chihuahua into Mexico, and distributed by ProSource, based in Hailey, Idaho.
Wholesalers, restaurants, and retail stores received the onions in cartons and sacks under various brand names, including Thomson Premium, TLC Thomson International, Tender Loving Care, El Competitor, Hartley’s Best, Onions 52, Majestic, Imperial Fresh, Kroger, Utah Onions, and Food Lion.
Check your fridge: If there are any onions, they may be part of a large recall issued this week out of concerns over salmonella contamination.
If you have any whole onions in your pantry, red, white, or yellow doesn’t matter. If they don’t have a sticker or a package, toss them in the trash. If you can identify the supplier, you need to check it against the recall list before you use them.
If you plan to eat them raw, make sure you wash any surfaces and containers “these onions may have touched” with “hot soapy water or a dishwasher.
“call your doctor if you experience” a fever above 102, diarrhea, vomiting, or signs of dehydration. Generally, those symptoms kick in around “six hours to six days of eating contaminated food,” According to the CDC.
They aren’t sure how many people have been affected by this latest recall yet because “it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak.”
Many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella making the “true number of sick people in an outbreak is also likely much higher than the number reported – The CDC explained.
Read more of this story from News Hour First:
According to the recall notice, the onions were supplied by “ProSource Produce of Idaho and Keeler Family Farms of New Mexico.” From there, they went to “restaurants, food service locations, wholesalers and retail or grocery stores in all 50 states and the District.”
To distract from the fact that fully vaccinated Americans are falling over right and left with the Covid-19 Delta variant and spreading it to their fully vaccinated co-workers, the CDC announced the Mexican onions have “sickened at least 652 people across the country. Nationwide, 129 people were hospitalized.” The good news is that “no deaths have been reported.”
On Friday, Keeler Family Farms took responsibility for their role in the crisis to issue on their own “a voluntary recall of red, yellow and white whole, fresh onions imported from Chihuahua, Mexico, between July 1 and Aug. 25. These onions contain a label that is marked as ‘MVP (product of MX.)’”
That follows the similar notice put out two days earlier by ProSource Produce. Theirs affects all onions “imported between July 1 and Aug. 31.”
After that, the various distributors and packagers sent the onions affected by the recall off from coast-to-coast under their own brand names. “Big Bull, Peak Fresh Produce, Sierra Madre, Markon First Crop., Markon Essentials, Rio Blue, ProSource, Rio Valley, Sysco Imperial.”
They went to consumers in packages of every size from 50lb bulk bags to two-pound mesh sacks. They were also distributed as part of “HelloFresh, a meal kit subscription service; EveryPlate, a meal kit subscription service; Potandon Produce LLC, sold under brand name Green Giant.”
Sources: Newshourfirst, Patch
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