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McDonald’s said it is looking for a new regional supplier for fresh onions
The McDonald’s logo is pictured outside a store in Dearborn, Michigan on October 17, 2024 (AFP)
McDonald’s worked Wednesday to reassure customers that its U.S. restaurants are safe as federal investigators try to pinpoint the cause of a deadly E. coli outbreak linked to the fast-food giant’s Quarter Pounder burgers.
McDonald’s pulled Quarter Pounders from a fifth of its US stores on Tuesday as a result of the outbreak, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states. One person died and 10 were hospitalized, according to the CDC.
McDonald’s
A preliminary investigation by the US Food and Drug Administration suggests that fresh chopped onions, which are served raw in Quarter Pounder hamburgers, are the likely source of the contamination. McDonald’s also serves raw, sliced onions on one of its breakfast sandwiches, but that sandwich is not available at the affected stores. Other burgers, like the Big Mac, use diced cooked onions.
McDonald’s said it is looking for a new regional supplier for fresh onions. Meanwhile, Quarter Pounders were removed from menus in Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming and parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Adrian Madden stopped by a McDonald’s outside of Denver on Wednesday for his usual afternoon snack, but then decided against it. He said he’s not sure how E. coli spreads or infects other foods and thinks McDonald’s should be more responsive.
“It affects my decision to come to McDonald’s in the future,” Madden said. “I feel like the information is not that widespread. I didn’t see any notices on the door, and then I saw vehicles pass through the driveway as if nothing was happening. Colorado has the most reported cases of any state so far, and is where the only fatality involving an adult has occurred.
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 have complicated efforts to identify the source of the contamination.
14,000 stores in the US
McDonald’s has more than 14,000 stores in the U.S. and serves 1 million Quarter Pounders every two weeks in the affected 12-state area. McDonald’s is known for its strict food safety guidelines and protocols, said Chris Golke, professor of food and beverage management at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hospitality Administration. The company said Wednesday that the supplier regularly tests its onions for E. coli, for example.
“Given the amount of food they go through, how rarely this happens to McDonald’s is a testament to the effort they put in,” Golke said. But some experts questioned why McDonald’s simply stopped selling one sandwich and didn’t close the restaurants for further investigation. “The good practice would be to close all the restaurants,” said Bill Marler, a Seattle attorney who has sued companies over food poisoning outbreaks. “Until we know definitively which product is making people sick, consumers should be aware.”
Marler said cross-contamination remains a potential possibility at the affected restaurants until they are thoroughly cleaned. Asked why it had not closed any restaurants, McDonald’s said nothing in the government’s investigation indicated there were problems with its food preparation practices. In an interview on the “Today” show Wednesday, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger also said it’s likely that any contaminated product has already passed through the company’s supply chain.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the outbreak late Tuesday. It said the 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 interviewed people about the foods they ate in the week before they got sick. Of the 18 people interviewed on Tuesday, all reported eating at McDonald’s, and 16 reported eating a beef hamburger. Twelve reported eating the Quarter Pounder.
McDonald’s said the beef in the Quarter Pounder is unlikely to be the source because it comes from multiple suppliers and is cooked at a high enough temperature to kill E. coli. McDonald’s said its initial findings indicated that some of the reported illnesses were linked to onions from a single supplier, which the company did not name. McDonald’s said the onions are cleaned and sliced by the supplier and then packaged for use in individual quarters.
The incubation period for E. coli is only a few days, so the illness will be quickly noticeable to anyone affected, said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University. “If you ate those burgers in September and it’s mid-October and you didn’t get sick, you’re probably fine,” he said.
E. coli bacteria are found in the intestines of animals and are found in the environment. Infections can cause severe illness, including fever, stomach cramps, and bloody diarrhea. People who develop symptoms of E. coli poisoning should seek medical attention immediately and tell the provider what they ate.
The type of bacteria implicated in the McDonald’s case causes about 74,000 infections in the U.S. annually, leading to more than 2,000 hospitalizations and 61 deaths each year, according to the CDC. Overall, E. coli infections were lower in 2023 than in recent years, and cases of severe kidney damage caused by the bacteria remained stable, according to the latest federal data.
Outbreaks in chain restaurants
Outbreaks at chain restaurants are rare, but they do happen. In 2020, Chipotle agreed to pay a record $25 million fine to resolve criminal charges that it served tainted food that sickened more than 1,100 people with E. coli between 2015 and 2018. In this case, poor safety practices , such as not keeping food at the right temperatures to prevent pathogen growth are to blame. In 2006, Taco Bell ordered the removal of green onions from its restaurants nationwide after samples taken by investigators appeared to contain a severe strain of E. coli. The epidemic sickened at least 71 people.
“The worst thing you can have in a restaurant is a food safety issue. It’s the equivalent of an airline losing the plane,” said Aaron Allen, restaurant consultant and founder of Aaron Allen and Associates. But Allen said McDonald’s has enough experience and safety protocols in place to avoid long-term damage from the outbreak. “No one would be better equipped to mitigate and respond to this than McDonald’s,” he said. Shares of McDonald’s fell 5% on Wednesday.
(This story was not edited by News18 staff and was published by a syndicated news agency feed – Associated Press)
- location:
Washington, United States of America (USA)
