A spokesman for the company said Sunday that tests by the Colorado Agriculture Department showed that no E. coli was found in samples of beef patties used in McDonald’s Quarter Pounders that have been linked to a deadly outbreak.
Officials from the company said they have no plans to test the beef patties again, and the patties have been ruled out as the cause of the spread.
Based on the Food and Drug Administration, the company spokesperson said that slivered onions from a single source were the most likely cause of contamination.
A spokeswoman for the company said that McDonald’s stopped getting slivered onions from Taylor Farms Colorado Springs for good on Sunday, a few days after taking them out of its supply chain.
Someone from Taylor Farms said that their onions were sold in shops in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, and some other nearby states. There were airports among those places, which could explain cases in other states.
A McDonald’s representative said the company is confident in its ability to ask beef sources to provide new patties for distribution. It’s likely that places will have Quarter Pounders this week.
The company said that for now, all 900 stores that get their onions from Taylor Farms Colorado Springs will keep selling Quarter Pounders without onions.
There were no other burgers or McDonald’s menu items that got sick because of the spread.
The outbreak type of E. coli is called O157:H7, and it makes a strong poison that can hurt the lining of the small intestine.
The outbreak was first reported on Tuesday, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they were looking into an E. coli outbreak in multiple states that was linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. The fast food chain stopped using sliced onions and quarter-pound beef patties in those states, the agency said at the time.
The CDC said on Tuesday that McDonald’s was linked to the first case of E. coli on September 27. The CDC was told about a strange rise in the illness in Colorado on October 10 by state health officials. On October 15, Matt Wise, chief of the CDC’s Outbreak Response and Prevention Branch, told NBC News that the agency began an investigation.
By Wednesday, the CDC had made the sliced onions on the Quarter Pounders the focus of its probe. McD’s said Thursday that the onions that were linked to the outbreak came from Taylor Farms.
U.S. Foods, a distributor, said on Wednesday that Taylor Farms was recalling four raw onion goods because of “potential E. coli contamination.” To be safe, the company said this. Restaurants and other customers were told by the company to stop using and throw away any goods that were affected as soon as possible.
Other Colorado food chains, like Illegal Pete’s and Taco Bell, also stopped using onions on their menus because of it.
A spokesperson for Yum! Brands, which owns Taco Bell, said that some Pizza Hut and KFC stores have also taken fresh onions off their menus. There are no signs that those places are linked to E. coli illnesses.
The FDA said Thursday that it was looking into Taylor Farms as a possible source of the E. coli case that was linked to the Quarter Pounders. They also said, “We’re looking at all possible sources.”
A spokeswoman for Taylor Farms did not answer right away when asked for comment on Sunday.
The CDC said that as of Friday, 75 people in 13 states had been affected with the strain of E. coli and one person had died.
Twelve people have been taken to the hospital, and two have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious problem that can lead to death or chronic kidney failure.
A lot of people have attacked McDonald’s, saying that the food they ate there made them sick.
Source: McDonald’s Quarter Pounder beef patties not the source of E. coli outbreak, company says
