People across 37 states in the US have been asked to get rid of all red, yellow, and white unlabelled onions following a salmonella outbreak that has sickened a mass of hundreds of people residing across 37 states, as per Bloomberg News.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that one of the sources of infections can be attributed to the infection-causing onions that have been imported from Chihuahua in Mexico and the ones that were distributed by ProSource Inc.
As of now, 652 reported ill and 129 have been hospitalized. Deaths have not been reported. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the actual number of people that fell sick must have been much higher as many have not been reported. Infections reported were between May 31st and September 30th.
When sick people were interviewed, it implied that 75% of the people consumed raw onion or dishes containing these onions before falling sick. People that have fallen sick reported having eaten these raw onions at the same time at the same restaurants, thereby implying that it is a part of the cluster causing illness, reported Bloomberg News.
The CDC advises buyers not to get onions that have been imported from Chihuahua, Mexico, and instead throw away the ones that have been bought. The onions that must be thrown away must be unlabelled. These infectious onions usually do not have stickers or packaging details. It also advised that all surfaces that came in close contact with the onions must be thoroughly washed with hot soapy water or dishwasher.
The people that have been suffering from the Salmonella outbreak had symptoms that comprised diarrhea, stomach cramps, and fever, the onset time is between six hours and six days from the time of consuming the food that is contaminated.
