Ninety people in 13 states have been infected in a single deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday because it continues to research the source of the spread.
The outbreak has resulted in 27 hospitalizations and one previously reported death of an older adult in Colorado.
Before Wednesday, the CDC last provided an update on the outbreak on Friday, when the agency said there have been 75 cases in 13 states. The agency first announced the outbreak on October 22.
Fresh onion slices served on Quarter Pounders and other menu items at McDondald's are “the likely source of this outbreak,” the CDC said on its website Wednesday.
The additional illnesses stemmed from the time before McDonald's and Taylor Farms, which supplied onions to the affected region, took motion to remove the ingredient from the affected locations, the agency added. The CDC believes the chance to the general public is “very low” resulting from the efforts of McDonald's and Taylor Farms.
“The likelihood that contaminated onions are still available for sale is low,” the agency wrote.
Quarter Pounder hamburgers are a key menu item for McDonald's, bringing in billions of dollars every year. The fast food giant said Sunday that burgers will return this week to a couple of fifth of U.S. restaurants, or about 3,000 locations, after removing the menu item resulting from the outbreak.
But about 900 of those locations will serve the Quarter Pounder without onion slices for the foreseeable future because the CDC and other health authorities proceed to research the explanation for the outbreak. The change will impact restaurants in Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming, in addition to parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah.
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