I just got this email from a friend.
I never eat onions knowingly and very rarely eat mayonnaise but I am curious as to the validity of this speech.
It may also be an ad for the mayonnaise company.
I didn't check it with Snopes as I find them to be inaccurate however.... what think ye?
"ONIONS & MAYONNAISE
In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people, there was a doctor who visited the farmers to see if he could help them combat the epidemic. Many farmers and their families died. The doctor came upon one farmer who had a very healthy family. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing differently the wife said she had simply placed a peeled, cut onion in a dish in each room of the home. The doctor couldn't believe it and asked for one of the onions to study under the microscope. To his surprise, the flu virus was found in the onion. It had obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore keeping the family healthy.
Now, I also heard this story from my hairdresser in Arizona. She said that several years ago there was a heavy hit of flu in the vicinity and many of her employees and their clients were battling flu-like symptoms. She placed several bowls with cut onions around the shop and can verify that none of her staff got sick. It must work. Try it and see what happens. We did last year during the H1N1 scare and never got the flu.
Now there is a P.S. to this report. I sent this info to a friend in Oregon who regularly shares health information with me. She replied with her own interesting experience with onions: “Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmer’s story. But, I do know that I contacted pneumonia last year and needless to say I was very ill. I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put it into an empty jar... placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would turn black from the germs by the following morning. Sure enough it happened just like that. The onion was a mess and I felt better. Another thing in the article was that cut and peeled onions and garlic reportedly saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.”
On another note: Lots of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame. Maybe onions are to blame. Since they absorb bacteria and are so good at preventing colds and flus, this may be the very reason we shouldn't eat cut onions that have been sitting around for a time (like in a restaurant where you don’t know how long the onions have been cut – and especially watch out for those onions set out for the hotdogs at a baseball park!). LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS.”
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I had the wonderful privilege of touring the huge Mullins Food Products, Makers of Mayonnaise, owned by the 11 brothers and sisters in that family. My friend, Jeanne, is the CEO. Questions were raised during the tour regarding mayo and food poisoning. I wanted to share what I learned from our tour guide, Ed, who is one of the brothers. He is a chemist and involved in developing most of their sauce formulas. (He's even developed sauces for McDonald's.) He said people are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil – Ed's answer will surprise you – “All commercially-made mayo is completely safe. It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigeration, but it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayo is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked about the typical picnic, with potato salad sitting on the table and how everyone blames the mayo if someone gets sick.
Ed says that when food poisoning is reported, the first thing officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where they came from – possibly the potato salad? Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES. He explained that onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions; and to never plan on keeping a cut onion for future use. He says it's not even safe to put it in a zip-lock bag in your refrigerator. It's already contaminated just by being cut open and left out for a bit. Ed says if you take the leftover onion and ‘cook it like crazy’ you'd probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put it 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 can by being left out in the summer heat. Please remember it is dangerous to cut an onion for use the next day; it becomes highly poisonous and creates toxic bacteria, which may cause food poisoning and/or adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions.
Also please note that onions are toxic to dogs, they cannot metabolize onions and can die if ingested. Please pass this on to all you love and care."
