Onions Cause Nationwide Salmonella Outbreak

Oct. 21, 2021

A growing salmonella outbreak has been traced to onions from Chihuahua state, Mexico, imported by a distributor in Idaho.

Pan Demetrakakes

A growing salmonella outbreak has been traced to onions from Chihuahua state, Mexico, imported by a distributor in Idaho.

More than 650 people in 37 states have been sickened by salmonella from the tainted onions, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC first became aware of the outbreak in mid-September, but only identified the source about a month later.

The red, yellow and white onions were distributed by ProSource Inc, based in Hailey, Idaho, to both restaurants and grocery stores throughout the country. The CDC is advising consumers to throw out any onions they have on hand unless they know for sure that the onions did not come from ProSource.

The last batch of tainted onions was imported Aug. 27, according to the CDC. But onions can take months to find their way through a refrigerated supply chain.

Onions were the source of a similar salmonella outbreak in 2020, which reached 869 cases in 47 states.

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.