A Quarter Pounder with cheese, fries and a drink at a McDonald’s restaurant in El Sobrante, California on October 23, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Linked to deadly E. coli outbreak that infected 90 people in 13 states mcdonalds The Quarter Pounders and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that they are continuing to investigate the source of the outbreak.
Colorado has previously reported 27 people hospitalized and one elderly death due to the outbreak.
The CDC last issued an update on the outbreak before Wednesday on Friday, when the agency announced 75 cases in 13 states. The agency first announced the outbreak on October 22.
The CDC said on its website Wednesday that freshly sliced ​​onions served in McDonald’s Quarter Pounders and other menu items “may be the source of this infection.”
The additional illnesses predate McDonald’s and Taylor Farms, which supplied onions to the affected areas, before they took steps to remove the ingredients from the affected areas, the agency added. The CDC believes the risk to the public is “very low” due to McDonald’s and Taylor Farms’ efforts.
“It is unlikely that contaminated onions will still be sold,” the agency wrote.
The Quarter Pounder hamburger is a core menu item at McDonald’s, generating billions of dollars each year. The fast food giant announced Sunday that it will reintroduce burgers at about a fifth of its U.S. restaurants, or about 3,000 locations, this week after discontinuing the menu item due to the outbreak.
But as the CDC and other health officials continue to investigate the source of the infection, about 900 of those stores will be serving Quarter Pounders without the onion julienne for now. This change applies to restaurants in Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming, as well as select restaurants in Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Utah. influence
