THE sobbing of a chef as he chops onions in the kitchen could be a thing of the past thanks to one Japanese company, which says it has produced a tear-free vegetable.

    Scientists said they have managed to disable the production of a powerful substance an onion releases as the knife slices into it, cutting down on the pungent fumes that bring tears to the eyes.

    House Foods Group said in a press release that they bombarded the brown bulb with irradiating ions in a process that drastically reduces the level of a certain enzyme that is key to this process.

    The company said its “new onions” differ further from the onions of yesteryear by leaving a person’s hands and breath stench-free after handling and eating the vegetables.

    A spokesman said no decision had yet been made on whether they would commercialize their tear-free onions.

    The company’s researchers won the Ig Nobel Prize — an award handed out to honor achievements organizers consider unintentionally funny — in 2013.(SD-Agencies)