A deadly outbreak of E. coli poisoning tied to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has expanded, with at least 75 people sick in 13 states, federal health officials said Friday. A total of 22 people have now been hospitalized, and two have developed a dangerous kidney disease complication, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
One person has died in Colorado. No definitive source of the outbreak has been identified, officials with the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration said. Early information analyzed by the FDA showed that uncooked slivered onions used on the burgers “are a likely source of contamination,” the agency said. Taylor Farms, a California-based produce grower that supplies raw slivered onions to McDonald’s, issued a voluntary recall this week for yellow onions because of possible E.
coli contamination, federal officials said. that the recalled Taylor Farms onions were sent to one distribution point and used in the restaurants involved in the outbreak. Taylor Farms has not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.
McDonald’s didn’t identify the distribution point but pulled the burger from menus in several states — mostly in the Midwest and Mountain states — when the outbreak was announced Tuesday. Another company that runs Burger King restaurants said it gets whole onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado faciility. It stopped using them, although no illnesses had been reported.
The new McDonald’s cases reported Frid.