DENVER — At least 104 people have been sickened, with 34 hospitalized, in an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning tied to onions served on McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburgers, federal health officials said Wednesday. Cases have been detected in 14 states, according to an update from the U.
S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person died in Mesa County, Colorado, and four people have developed a potentially life-threatening kidney disease complication.
At least 30 cases were reported in Colorado. That's an increase from 29 cases reported Oct. 30.
Other states with cases are: 19 in Montana, 13 in Nebraska, 10 in New Mexico, eight in Missouri and Utah, six in Wyoming, three in Kansas, two in Michigan and one each in Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. Illnesses were reported between Sept. 12 and Oct.
21. At least seven people who got sick said they ate McDonald's food while traveling. Slivered onions served on the Quarter Pounders were the likely source of the outbreak, the CDC said.
Taylor Farms, a California-based produce grower, recalled onions potentially linked to the outbreak. The recalled onions came from a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado, a U.S.
Foods spokesperson said. Tests by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration detected a type of E. coli bacteria that produces a dangerous toxin in one sample of the onions, but it did not match the strain that made people sick, officials reported. Quarter Pounders were removed from menus in sever.