The U.S. government said Tuesday it has closed its investigation into an outbreak of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria linked to a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburger after determining there was no longer a safety risk.
The outbreak, which was first reported on October 22, has sickened at least 104 people in 14 states, including 34 who were hospitalized, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. One person has died in Colorado and four people have developed potentially life-threatening complications of kidney disease.
The US Food and Drug Administration, which conducted the investigation in cooperation with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments, linked the outbreak to yellow onions distributed by California-based Taylor Farms and served raw in Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s restaurants in Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. And other countries.
No new cases have been reported since Oct. 21, when McDonald’s pulled the Quarter Pounder from its menu in affected states, the CDC said Tuesday. Taylor Farms began a voluntary yellow onion recall on October 22.
Federal health officials and Colorado state health officials did not find the E. coli strain that caused the disease in the onions they tested or in any environmental samples. But they concluded that evidence showed the recalled yellow onions were the likely source of the outbreak.
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“McDonald’s is no longer serving the recalled onions, and there do not appear to be ongoing food safety concerns related to this outbreak,” the FDA said Tuesday in a statement.
McDonald’s briefly pulled Quarter Pounders from 3,000 U.S. stores as a result of the outbreak, then reduced that to 900 stores once testing identified onions — not hamburger patties — as a likely source of E. coli. The company found an alternative supplier and resumed selling the Quarter Pounder with chopped onions in all U.S. stores last month.
But the outbreak has hurt demand. In mid-November, McDonald’s said it planned to spend $100 million to bring customers back into stores, including $65 million that would go directly to its hardest-hit franchisees.
Chicago-based McDonald’s did not announce on Tuesday whether its sales had returned to normal levels in the affected areas. But she thanked US regulators for their quick action and said she remained confident in its strict food safety standards.
McDonald’s’ last major food safety issue occurred in 2018, when more than 500 people became ill with gastrointestinal illness after eating its salads.
McDonald’s also declined to comment Tuesday on legal actions taken against the company as a result of the E. coli outbreak.
Nicole and Richard West of Townsend, Montana, filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s after their 11-month-old daughter, Logan, was hospitalized in October with E. coli poisoning. The little girl ate a few bites of her father’s hamburger with onions during a family road trip on October 2.
A few days later, she became ill with severe vomiting and diarrhea. Her mother rushed her to the hospital, where she was found to be infected with E. coli O157:H7 bacteria, which can cause life-threatening illness, especially in young children.
Richard West also became ill but did not seek medical care because he was at home caring for the family’s other children. He has lost more than two weeks of his job as a truck driver due to the outbreak and the family is facing a barrage of medical expenses.
Nicole West said Tuesday that Logan’s health had improved but the outbreak had shaken the family’s confidence in the fast food giant.
“With kids, when you want to go out to eat, they want to go to McDonald’s. They want to have a Happy Meal,” West said. “But we don’t trust it anymore.”
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
