Kerre McIvor: Many layers to this onion controversy

COMMENT: There's nothing quite like a sausage on a Saturday morning. Perhaps more so in winter, when a juicy sausage wrapped in white bread and butter and topped with onions, tomato sauce and mustard is just the ticket after a morning standing on the sidelines, watching the kids play netball or rugby. (The mustard, I accept, is a controversial addition. There are some purists who insist that the mustard is an unnecessary distraction but à chacun a son goût — each to their own taste.)

The sausage sizzle is a lucrative form of fundraising too for many charities and clubs and I remember the furore on talkback when the new food safety regulations were being revamped some years ago and there was the suggestion that the sausage sizzle might have to be regulated.

Such was the outcry that now the only requirement is that food be safe — until this week, when the great Bunnings onion controversy erupted.

We can blame Australia for this.

Three years ago, a Gympie farmer named Trev slipped on onions inside his local Bunnings store and went flat on his back. Because they don't have ACC in Australia, Trev promptly went to Bunnings and they compensated him for the accident.

I'm so glad we can't sue in this country. I still remember the farcical incident — again in Australia — when a drunken pub patron won a meat raffle. He was told he couldn't buy any more beer as he wasn't wearing shoes, so he strapped two pork chops to his feet. Much hilarity ensued until his mate slipped in the greasy residue on the floor and broke his arm, putting paid to his career as an upholsterer. He sued the pub and his mate and received just over $61,000 for his troubles. Ridiculous.

Anyhoo, as a result of Trev falling flat on his back, Bunnings have now released guidelines for the preparation of sausages that apply to Bunnings stores both in Australia and New Zealand. And that means that the onions must go straight onto the bread, then the sausage on top and lastly the t-sauce. And mustard for those of us who like going off piste.

The Australian public has not reacted well and the talkback lines have been burning up across the ditch. Jacinda Adern and Scott Morrison, who are attending an ASEAN conference, even felt compelled to issue a joint statement that sausage sizzles would continue under their prime ministerial watch, no matter what the risks were to public safety.

It's not the first time there has been controversy over a Bunnings sausage sizzle. Last year, a Melbourne cat rescue charity came under fire when it ran a sausage sizzle at Mentone Bunnings — with only vegan sausages. The charity members manning the sizzle explained that their were an animal rescue group so felt they couldn't really sell animals to raise funds. Again, there was much to do and the talkback lines fired up with some people demanding that vegetarian and vegan organisations be banned from ever hosting sausage sizzles at Bunnings.

However, the onions on top or underneath debate has far outstripped The Great Vegan Sausage Controversy of 2017. And maybe there is something to the safety guidelines.

The Herald has revealed that ACC has investigated 3001 onion related claims since 2013.

To be fair, most of the injuries came as a result of people cutting themselves while trying to slice onions, but there have been 21 people who made claims as a result of slipping on onions since 2013.

It's extraordinary really. When there are so many life and death issues affecting so many people in hundreds of countries around the world, here we are, getting all fired up about health and safety regulations for the local sausage sizzle.

We really do live in the lucky country.