Onion spoilage (Need answer fast)

Cafe Society
1

I cut the onion I’d bought for today’s dinner in half and discovered part of it had gone bad. Some of the layers were discoloured a slight brownish yellow, a bit more transparent than normal, a bit mushy at the tip and smelling sort of wrong and slightly sweet.

I cut away the discoloured parts and used the rest, so I only need an answer fast if this means I’ve ingested a significant volume of badness, but I’m curious what process changes the onion like that? Is it just normal bacterial decomposition?

2

I have always assumed it is a standard organism that causes this type of spoilage.
I remove the discolored parts and use the rest and I’m not dead yet.

3

I do it all the time. I am not dead. I am actually old, and moderately healthy.

Tris

4

To clarify what I mean by a “standard organism” I mean one that will make yuck but not poison me.

5

Moved from General Questions to Cafe Society, where you can still get factual ansswers.

6

Normal bacterial decomposition isn’t just one type of bacteria, and there is no guarantee that the bacteria that’s been nibbling on your veggies is harmless. I would say that you probably wouldn’t want to put that onion on a raw salad, but it may be ok to cook. Again, this depends on the type of bacteria that is swimming around in there.

If you do wind up feeling ill, make sure to have the mental note of what you ate available to tell the doc later. Perhaps even set aside the bits you threw away if you still have them where you don’t have to dig through refuse.

For the most part, people don’t have a problem cutting moldy or soft bits off their food and using the rest, but that doesn’t make it strictly safe.

7

It’s a parody newspaper.

8

If mushy/discolored parts of onions can be cut away (along with a margin of good stuff, just to be sure) I will use the onions, though I prefer to cook them when they’re like that. Been doing it for years.

As for what causes it… all sorts of things eat the same food we do. I haven’t bought onions for about six months now, I get them out of my garden, and while most of them are in pristine condition I occasionally come across some that have gone back underground. Sometimes there’s a likely cause - part of the garden flooded for a few days, mechanical damage from deer raiding the garden, a fungal infection that wiped out most of my turnips in July also seems to have taken a few onions along with them, etc. - but sometime when you pull one up it’s partly or wholly icky for no apparent reason.

So - trim the bad stuff. If there was someone in the household with a serious chronic illness (cancer, perhaps) or a depressed immune system I might be more cautious, but for healthy people I don’t think there’s an issue.

9

Likewise. I do it all the time. I am not dead. I am actually rather old and moderately healthy for my age.