United States: A recent E. coli outbreak which is somehow connected to slivered onions used on McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has made 104 people sick. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so there are 34 people have been hospitalized, four have serious kidney problems, and sadly, one person has died.
Fourteen states have been affected by the outbreak, according to the FDA: Colorado is the most affected state with thirty cases while Montana had nineteen and Nebraska with thirteen cases.
The outbreak, McDonalds and the FDA have both laid the blame at the door of slivered onions supplied by Taylor Farms, a food producer based in California. The company has withdrawn yellow onions from the market on 22nd of October.
As reported by the HealthDay, there are no further tests have been conducted on the recalled onions but “at this time, there is no indication that there is a continued food safety issue regarding this outbreak from McDonald’s restaurants,” according to the FDA.
At the same time, McDonald’s said on Wednesday that has resumed selling Quarter Pounders with slivered onions at some outlets.
People who are already infected with the strain of E. coli have no serious complication, and many of them may not even require medical attention. Less severe diarrheal diseases cause sides like abdominal pain, bloody stools or vomiting. In extreme cases, they may get high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, neurological disorder, or hemolytic uremic syndrome – a condition that results to kidney failure, the CDC notes.
“McDonald’s has done its feasibility study and found another source for the approximately 900 restaurants that had suspended sales of the Quarter Pounder burgers with slivered onions,” the company said. ‘These restaurants continued in the last week the sale of Quarters Pounder burgers with slivered onions,’
McDonald’s also said in its statement that food safety “is the area we will never bend the knee on and we remain steadfast in doing what is right.
However, there are a number of legal complaints against McDonald since the announcement of the scourge, and these include a proposed class action lawsuit according to NBC News.