Onion E.coli Trial Fails to Show Bacteria

Taylor Hillman Environment, General, Specialty Crops, Water

onions
The Food Modernization Safety Act is seeking to make fresh produce safer, and an ongoing trial in Oregon involving onions was a prime place to start researching.

E.coli Trial Findings

The Malheur Experiment Station at Oregon State University has been running several trials on E.coli. Director Clint Shock says the local onion industry was a great place to start due to its non-existent history of E.coli reports, especially with the other surrounding industries. Shock says Oregon has been on the forefront of drip irrigation, and that may be a contributing factor. Shock’s team found little results of E.coli in their trials and even went to extremes to find significant counts of bacteria.