McDonald's suppliers have recalled yellow onions produced at a Colorado factory following a deadly E. coli outbreak at the fast food chain.
Taylor Farms, which supplies onions to McDonald's franchises that are the subject of a multi-state investigation by health officials, is removing the product “out of an abundance of caution” and as of Wednesday had no evidence of E. coli. He said no trace was found.
The Food and Drug Administration has identified Taylor Farms' onions as a “possible source of contamination.”
The newspaper has contacted Taylor Farms and McDonald's for comment.
US Foods Holdings, which counts Taylor Farms among its customers, said it had stopped supplying onions to at least one restaurant. According to Bloomberg News.
“Taylor Farms Colorado has removed yellow onions produced at its Colorado facility from the market. We will continue to work closely with the FDA and CDC during this ongoing investigation.” the company said in a statement Wednesday.
McDonald's on Tuesday removed the Quarter Pounder from the menu at one-fifth of its restaurants after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said one person died and dozens were hospitalized due to E. coli bacteria in the hamburger.
“We expect many more cases to occur,” CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.
“McDonald's took action fairly quickly to prevent as many infections as possible.”
Eric Stelly, a Colorado resident, claims in a court filing in Cook County, Illinois, that he purchased food from a McDonald's franchise in Colonel Greeley on October 4th. Days later, he said he began experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea. , stomach cramps and bloody stools.
On October 8, he was admitted to the hospital's emergency room, where medical staff confirmed through tests that he had E. coli poisoning. According to his lawyer.
The FDA launched a preliminary investigation and found that the freshly sliced onions served raw in Quarter Pounder burgers were the likely source of the contamination.
McDonald's also offers raw sliced onions in one of its breakfast sandwiches, but that sandwich is not available at the affected locations. Other burgers, such as the Big Mac, use diced and cooked onions.
McDonald's said it is looking for a new regional supplier for new onions.
Meanwhile, the Quarter Pounder is on the menu in Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, and some parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. deleted from.
Colorado has reported the most cases of any state so far, and the state also has the most deaths involving older adults.
Infections were reported between September 27 and October 11 in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
State and local public health officials were interviewing people about the foods they ate in the week before they became ill.
Of the 18 people interviewed as of Tuesday, all reported eating at McDonald's and 16 reported eating a hamburger. 12 people reported eating the Quarter Pounder.
McDonald's said it has been working closely with federal food safety regulators since late last week when it was alerted to the potential outbreak.
The company said the scope of the problem and the popularity of its products complicates efforts to identify the source of the contamination.
McDonald's has more than 14,000 restaurants in the United States and serves one million Quarter Pounders every other week in the 12 affected states.
with post wire
