A double quarter pounder with cheese and fries arranged at a McDonald’s restaurant in El Sobrante, California, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers will return to roughly 900 restaurants this week after the fast-food giant pulled the menu item linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak.
Affected restaurants — roughly a fifth of the corporate’s U.S. footprint — will likely be serving the Quarter Pounder burgers without slivered onions for the foreseeable future as health authorities proceed their investigation into the source of the outbreak. That change will affect restaurants in Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming and portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Recent Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah.
“The problem appears to be contained to a selected ingredient and geography, and we remain very confident that any contaminated product related to this outbreak has been faraway from our supply chain and is out of all McDonald’s restaurants,” Cesar Pina, chief supply chain officer for McDonald’s North American operations, said in a letter sent to the corporate’s U.S. system.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture’s testing didn’t detect E. coli in samples of the meat patties taken from restaurants in the realm, in line with Pina. The agency is not planning further tests of the corporate’s beef.
McDonald’s, 1 month
As an alternative, health authorities have honed in on slivered onions utilized in the Quarter Pounders because the likely suspect for the outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration continues to be investigating if onions produced by Taylor Farms are responsible. McDonald’s has stopped using Taylor Farms as a supplier for the ingredient indefinitely.
McDonald’s is now asking its beef suppliers to provide a recent supply of the fresh beef patties utilized in its Quarter Pounders, Pina wrote in a letter sent to the corporate’s U.S. system. Customers can expect to see the menu item back in all restaurants in the approaching week, although it’s going to occur on a rolling basis, depending on delivery and resupply operations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that the E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s has led to 75 cases across 13 states. Out of 61 patients with information available, 22 have been hospitalized, and two people have developed a serious condition that may cause kidney failure, called hemolytic uremic syndrome. The agency also said previously that an older adult in Colorado died.
Based on reported cases to this point, the outbreak took place between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11. Over a two-week period, McDonald’s typically sells roughly a million Quarter Pounders within the affected region, in line with company spokespeople.
McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger apologized to customers who’re feeling “in poor health, scared or uncertain” in a video posted on the corporate’s website.
“On behalf of the McDonald’s system, I would like you to listen to from me: we’re sorry,” he said.
McDonald’s is anticipated to report its third-quarter earnings before the bell on Tuesday. Shares of the corporate have fallen 7% for the reason that CDC linked the E. coli outbreak to its restaurants.
