E. coli cases linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders increase
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McDonald's has temporarily halted sales of Quarter Pounder sandwiches in some states. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Cases in an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders have increased, the CDC said Friday.
Why it matters: There were 75 cases from 13 states as of Thursday, an increase from the 49 illnesses from 10 states reported earlier this week.
- One person from Colorado has died, per the CDC. At least 22 people have been hospitalized, the new data shows.
The big picture: Health agencies, including the CDC and FDA, continue to investigate the outbreak and "are working quickly to determine the contaminated ingredient," the CDC said in its Friday update.
Zoom in: "Early information from FDA indicates onions may be a source of this outbreak," the CDC said.
- McDonald's posted a statement on its website about the outbreak Tuesday and said it has "paused the distribution of all slivered onions in the impacted area."
- Other restaurants including Taco Bell and Burger King have removed onions from select restaurants temporarily.
McDonald's stops sourcing onions from Taylor Farms
The latest: McDonald's posted an updated statement on its website Friday afternoon about the E. coli investigation and the onion recall from its supplier Taylor Farms.
- "While McDonald's removed all slivered onions produced from this facility as of October 22, 2024, due to broad concern and our unwavering commitment to food safety we have made the decision to stop sourcing onions from Taylor Farms' Colorado Springs facility indefinitely," the company said.
- "In the past 24 hours, many appear to have followed McDonald's lead in not serving onions from this facility," McDonald's said. "We fully expect others in our industry will also follow the imperative to be transparent in service of public health, and we expect health authorities will continue to provide updates."
E. coli outbreak states
The CDC's updated map shows where the 75 cases of the outbreak are from. Michigan, Washington and New Mexico were the three states added to the map.
- Colorado has 26 illnesses, Montana 13 (an increase from one Tuesday) and Nebraska has 11 cases (up from nine Tuesday).
- Utah and New Mexico have five cases each, while Wyoming and Missouri each have four cases.
- Michigan has two cases while Oregon, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Washington each had one case.
Taylor Farms recall
State of play: McDonald's confirmed to Axios Thursday that Taylor Farms is the supplier of the onions removed from select restaurants.
- Taylor Farms is voluntarily recalling specific onion products from a Colorado facility, US Foods, a distributor for Taylor Farms, told Axios Thursday.
- Taylor Farms has not responded to Axios' requests for comment.
Editor's note: This story was updated with a new McDonald's statement and more details on E. coli case locations and the Taylor Farms recall.
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