Researchers in Colorado and California are submitting proposals for funding to collaborate with growers in both states to identify and quantify risk profiles for various pre- and post-harvest onion practices.
These profiles will be used to update the existing dry onion bulb food safety guidelines, identify clear steps and metrics that the onion industry can use to assess risk during production, and provide insight to growers under challenging environmental conditions or operational practices. The current dry onion bulb food safety guidelines are 10 years old, and industry knowledge has expanded over time. The proposed project will also address 24 red, white, yellow and sweet onion varieties commonly grown in Colorado and California.
The research team is led by Eduardo Gutierrez-Rodriguez, a newly appointed Colorado State University assistant professor in fresh produce safety, and partners with Susan Pheasant with California State University, Fresno’s Institute for Food and Agriculture.
The proposed project looks to develop the base quantitative risk profiles for the most common dry bulb onion practices in California and Colorado to address common practices where the current Salmonella outbreak could have originated.
The onion industry has already provided significant input via listening sessions and conference calls to help design a project with direct benefit to growers. Growers have volunteered access to their farms, to their farming practices and to onions grown in their fields to test the project’s hypothesis.
The researchers are encouraging additional grower and industry involvement. In particular, they are seeking industry members to serve on a project advisory committee and to help locate a small packing line suitable for bulb onion handling.
To participate, contact Gutierrez-Rodriguez at egr10@colostate.edu or Pheasant at spheasant@csufresno.edu.
