2021 Onion Recall – Here’s How To ID Them (w/Pictures)

Whole raw onions are being recalled due to the potential of Salmonella contamination.

The recall is related to an ongoing investigation into an outbreak of Salmonella that has affected 652 people, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The investigation has identified two suppliers that could be sources of the potentially contaminated onions, ProSource Produce, LLC, and Keeler Family Farms.

ProSource Produce is the only company to initiate a voluntary recall at publication time. However, in a statement, the FDA said that Keeler Family Farms has met with the FDA and agreed to a recall and that additional information would be available at a later date.

In their recall announcement, ProSource said “to date no onions marketed through ProSource have tested positive for Salmonella. This voluntary recall is being conducted out of an abundance of caution, in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”

Salmonella is nasty stuff. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it can cause diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps six hours to six days after infection and last four to seven days. The CDC estimates that Salmonella causes about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths a year in the US.

How To Tell If Your Onions Are the Recalled Onions

Here’s the challenge – the FDA indicated that many of the illness reports traced back to onions eaten in restaurants.

When eating in a restaurant, there’s no way to know the origin or brand of onion that’s included in your food.

About the best that a restaurant guest can do is either place an order without onions, or ask the restaurant staff if they are aware of the recall, have removed any affected onions, and sanitized surfaces that said onions were in contact with.

Store bought onions are going to be easier to identify.

According to the recall announcement, the onions were distributed in AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WI, as well as Ontario and Quebec, Canada.

They were shipped from Chihuahua, Mexico, between July 1 and August 31, 2021.

The onions were sold in 50lb, 25lb, 10lb, 5lb, 3lb, and 2lb mesh sacks, and 50lb, 40lb, 25lb, 10lb, and 5lb cartons, under the brand names: Big Bull, Peak Fresh Produce, Sierra Madre, Markon First Crop, Markon Essentials, Rio Blue, ProSource, Rio Valley and Sysco Imperial.

Images of the packaging is below.

As mentioned earlier, the FDA expects Keeler Family Farms to also initiate a voluntary recall.

At publication time, the details and branding information for their onions had not yet been released. Bookmark this page and return regularly for updated information.

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