The company McDonald's announced on Wednesday that it is looking for a new regional supplier of fresh onions, and as a precautionary measure, it has removed quarter-pound hamburgers from the menus in some of its restaurants in the United States. The company has been working closely with food safety regulatory agencies since it was alerted to a possible outbreak last week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Tuesday afternoon about the outbreak. By that time, at least 49 people in 10 different states had fallen ill, and one person had died as a result of this outbreak.
In a statement, McDonald's assured its customers that the food in its restaurants is safe despite the E. coli outbreak linked to quarter-pound hamburgers. It has been confirmed that the fresh onions served raw on these hamburgers were the probable source of contamination, as indicated by a preliminary investigation conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
According to reports, 12 affected individuals reported having consumed quarter-pound hamburgers, complicating the investigation due to the scale of the issue. McDonald's stated that it follows strict food safety practices, including regular cleaning and testing for E. coli in onions.
The company revealed that a preliminary investigation suggests that the outbreak is related to onions supplied by a specific vendor, and that approximately one million quarter-pound hamburgers are served in the affected areas every two weeks. In Colorado, one of the most affected states, one person lost their life and ten others were hospitalized.
Health authorities are interviewing affected individuals in different states to gather information about the foods they consumed before becoming ill. The outbreak has affected several people between late September and mid-October in states such as Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
