EnlightenedOsote's blog: "Things that are good to know"

Every body should read this.
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 I save the other half for later. 
Now with this info, I have changed my mind....I will buy smaller onions in the future.

Written by Zola Gorgon -
author of several cookbooks..

Watch out for those spoiled onions.

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 quint-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 even cooked ones.. Their stomachs cannot metabolize
onions.