Health officials have pinpointed onions as the likely source of a deadly E. coli outbreak at McDonald’s.
The number of confirmed illnesses has also grown to 90 people, according to the CDC Outbreak Investigation, but all of the people got sick before McDonald’s stopped serving onions on Quarter Pounders.
On October 30, health officials announced that fresh slivered onions on Quarter Pounders were the “likely source of this outbreak.”
Quarter Pounder beef patties were also tested during the investigation, but the “evidence does not point to ground beef as the likely source of contamination,” according to the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).
McDonald’s also uses diced onions in some menu items, but those menu items were not linked to illnesses in this outbreak. Instead, most sick people reported eating Quarter Pounders with slivered onions.
There were 15 new illnesses reported, but all of the people got sick before McDonald’s pulled slivered onions off the menu in some states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC said that as of October 30, the outbreak strain of E. coli has been linked to 90 illnesses in 13 states, including one person who died. The illnesses started between September 27 and October 16, 2024, and most of the sick people ate Quarter Pounders.
Taylor Farms, the supplier of slivered onions to McDonald’s, also recalled fresh onions that were sold in bulk to McDonald’s and many other food service customers.
Since the recall, health officials believe the current “risk to the public is very low” and it is “unlikely that recalled yellow onions were sold to grocery stores or directly to consumers,” according to the FDA.
Food-service customers should “use extra care in cleaning and sanitizing any surfaces and containers that may have come in contact with recalled product to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.”
Source: McDonald’s: Always Putting Food Safety First
