The US government announced on Tuesday that it had closed its investigation into a Outbreak of E. coli linked to McDonald’s Hamburgers Quarter Pounder after determining there is no longer a safety risk.
The hearth, which was first reported on October 22has sickened at least 104 people in 14 states, including 34 hospitalized, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In Colorado, one person died and four people developed a complication of life-threatening kidney disease.
The FDA, which conducted the investigation in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments, linked outbreak to yellow onions distributed by California-based Taylor Farms and served raw on Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s restaurants in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and other states.
No new cases have been reported since Oct. 21, when McDonald’s removed the Quarter Pounder from its menu in affected states, the CDC announced Tuesday. Taylor Farms initiated a voluntary recall of yellow onions on October 22.
Federal and state health officials in Colorado have not found the strain of E. coli disease-causing bacteria in the onions tested nor in any environmental samples. But they concluded that the evidence showed that the recalled yellow onions were the likely source of the outbreak.
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“McDonald’s is no longer serving recalled onions and there do not appear to be any food safety concerns related to this outbreak,” the FDA said in a statement Tuesday.
McDonald’s briefly removed Quarter Pounders from 3,000 U.S. stores following the outbreak, then reduced that number to 900 stores once testing identified onions – not hamburger patties – as the likely source of E. coli. The company found another supplier and began selling Quarter Pounders with chopped onions again in all U.S. stores last month.
But the epidemic has hurt demand. In mid-November, McDonald’s announced plans to spend $100 million to bring customers back to stores, including $65 million that will go directly to the hardest-hit franchisees.
Chicago-based McDonald’s would not say Tuesday whether its sales had returned to normal levels in affected regions. But he thanked U.S. regulators for their quick action and said he remained confident in its rigorous food safety standards.
McDonald’s last major food safety issue occurred in 2018, when more than 500 people contracted intestinal illness after eating its salads.
McDonald’s also declined to comment Tuesday legal action against the company following the E. coli.
Nicole and Richard West of Townsend, Montana, are suing McDonald’s after their 11-month-old daughter, Logan, was hospitalized in October with E. coli poisoning. The toddler ate a few bites of his dad’s Quarter Pounder burger with onions during a family road trip on October 2.
She became ill a few days later, suffering from severe vomiting and diarrhea. Her mother rushed her to the hospital, where she was discovered to be infected with E. coli O157:H7, which can cause life-threatening illness, especially in young children.
Richard West also became ill but did not seek medical attention because he was at home caring for the family’s other children. He lost more than two weeks of his job as a truck driver because of the outbreak and the family is facing an avalanche of medical bills.
Nicole West said Tuesday that Logan’s health had improved, but the outbreak had shaken the family’s trust in the fast-food giant.
“With kids, when you want to go out to eat, they want to go to McDonald’s. They want a Happy Meal,” West said. “But we just don’t trust it anymore.”