The US health authority CDC attributes a coliform outbreak with dozens of illnesses and one death at the fast food chain McDonald’s to onions as the suspected cause. Fresh pearl onions are “the likely cause of disease in this outbreak,” the CDC said. McDonald’s had previously announced that it would be offering the affected beef burger again without the sliced onions that are normally included.
According to US health authorities, as of Wednesday, at least 90 cases of illness in 13 states were due to the consumption of Quarter Pounder between September 27th and October 16th. At least 27 people had to be treated in hospital, and the coliform infection was fatal for one elderly person. According to the CDC, all of the illnesses can be traced back to the period when the onions were still in the burgers.
In initial investigations, the US health authority CDC attributed the outbreak to the leek vegetable, but did not rule out that the burger patty itself could also be affected.
The Quarter Pounder – the American counterpart of the Hamburger Royal – was initially withdrawn from sale in the affected regions as a precautionary measure and will now gradually be available everywhere again over the course of the week.
McDonald’s announced last week that it would no longer purchase onions from the McDonald’s production facility in Colorado. By then, the Colorado branch had supplied around 900 of the chain’s restaurants in several US states with the cut vegetables.
The supplier Taylor Farms removed onion products from its range. The onion grower himself has not yet been identified, according to the US health authority. “Based on the product actions taken by McDonald’s and Taylor Farms, the CDC believes the risk to the public remains very low,” the CDC continued.
According to the US health authority CDC, the typical symptoms of a serious illness include severe stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting. According to the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, certain strains of coliform bacteria can cause serious illnesses such as kidney failure.
