{"id":1081498,"date":"2021-12-03T17:14:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T22:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1081498"},"modified":"2021-12-03T17:15:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T22:15:01","slug":"fact-check-do-onions-absorb-harmful-bacteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-do-onions-absorb-harmful-bacteria\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Do Onions Absorb Harmful Bacteria?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-do-onions-absorb-harmful-bacteria%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1081498&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>A lengthy post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=4967498303268509&amp;set=a.223203954364658&amp;type=3&amp;theater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on Facebook<\/a> claims onions that are left out will absorb harmful bacteria thereby keeping people around them healthy.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: False<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>There is no scientific evidence to support this claim, according to various experts.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Onions have been at the center of several myths throughout the years, with some people claiming they promote hair growth while others claim they can cure cancer, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onions-usa.org\/tips-onion-myths-faqs\/common-myths\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Onion Association (NOA)<\/a>. Now, a lengthy post shared on Facebook claims that onions are capable of absorbing harmful bacteria.<\/p>\n<p>The post claims that in 1919, amid a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/flu\/pandemic-resources\/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">major influenza pandemic<\/a>, a doctor traveled to a farmer\u2019s house where he intended to help protect them from the disease, but instead was amazed to find all the inhabitants of the home healthy. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2020\/03\/22\/fact-check-hand-sanitizer-pets-contains-antifreeze-toxic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Viral Image Claims Hand Sanitizer Poses A Threat To Pets Because It Contains A Toxic Chemical Also Found In Antifreeze)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the doctor asked what the farmer had done, his wife said he had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the house,\u201d reads part of the post. \u201cThe doctor couldn\u2019t believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions, which he placed under a microscope. As a result, he found *the flu virus in the onion!! Meaning the onion had absorbed the bacteria* therefore keep the family healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post goes on to claim that this alleged ability of onions to absorb bacteria makes them poisonous after a certain period of time.<\/p>\n<p>There is no evidence that onions absorb bacteria or protect people from disease by drawing germs out of the air, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onions-usa.org\/tips-onion-myths-faqs\/onions-flu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NOA<\/a>. A section of the association\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onions-usa.org\/tips-onion-myths-faqs\/common-myths\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a> explains that the vegetable\u2019s juices are actually antimicrobial, meaning they repel bacteria rather than absorb it.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to this, onions excrete sulphuric acid, lack any protein and quickly dry out, all features that make the vegetable a non-ideal place for bacteria to accumulate or grow, according to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcgill.ca\/oss\/article\/health-you-asked\/it-true-onions-can-absorb-bacteria\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">article<\/a> published by McGill University\u2019s Office for Science and Society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an ancient belief supported by no scientific evidence,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/foodscience.caes.uga.edu\/people\/faculty\/francisco-diez-gonzalez.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. <\/a><span lang=\"ES-MX\"><a href=\"https:\/\/foodscience.caes.uga.edu\/people\/faculty\/francisco-diez-gonzalez.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Francisco Diez-Gonzalez<\/a>, a professor of food science and technology at the University of Georgia, in an email to Check Your Fact.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lengthy post shared on Facebook claims onions that are left out will absorb harmful bacteria thereby keeping people around them healthy.Verdict: False There is no scientific evidence to support &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1081498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1081498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1081498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1081498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1081498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}