McDonald’s burgers linked to E. coli outbreak in US; one dead, 10 hospitalised
The CDC said the outbreak began in late Sept and spread to 10 states; McDonald’s said the illness could have been caused by slivered onions sourced from one supplier
One person has died and at least 10 have been hospitalised after an E. coli outbreak in the United States that has been linked to “Quarter Pounder” hamburgers sold at McDonald outlets.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a statement released on Tuesday (October 22) said that the outbreak began in late September and spread to 10 states in the US. Out of the 49 cases that have been reported, 27 were in Colorado and 9 in Nebraska.
“10 people have been hospitalised. One older person in Colorado has died. Additionally, one child is hospitalized with complications of hemolytic uremic syndrome or HUS,” said the CDC.
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The CDC said that everyone who had been interviewed reported eating at McDonald’s before their illness began, and they specifically mentioned eating a Quarter Pounder hamburger. The health agency also said that the true number of sick people is likely to be much higher than the number reported because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for E. coli.
It said that it had not yet identified the specific ingredient that could have caused the illness, but its investigators were focusing on two ingredients – fresh beef patties and fresh slivered onions.
McDonald’s response
The fast-food chain in a statement after the outbreak said the initial findings from its internal investigation indicate that a subset of illnesses may be linked to slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder hamburgers and were sourced from a single supplier who catered to three of its distribution centres.
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“As a result, and in line with our safety protocols, all local restaurants have been instructed to remove this product from their supply and we have paused the distribution of all slivered onions in the impacted area,” said McDonald’s in its statement.
The company said it was also temporarily removing the Quarter Pounder hamburgers from its menu in the restaurants in the impacted area out of an abundance of caution.
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The president of McDonald’s in the US Joe Erlinger in a video message that was released said that food safety is “so important to me and everyone at McDonald’s.