A Double Quarter Pounder with cheese and fries is prepared at a McDonald’s restaurant in El Sobrante, California, United States, Wednesday, October 23, 2024.
David Paul Morris | David Paul Morris Bloomberg | Getty Images
McDonald’s The Quarter Pounder is returning to about 900 restaurants this week after the fast-food giant pulled the menu item linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak.
As health authorities continue to investigate the origins of the outbreak, the affected restaurants, which account for about a fifth of the company’s U.S. business, will be serving quarter-pound burgers without shredded onions for the foreseeable future. The change will affect Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming as well as Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Restaurants in parts of Utah.
“This issue appears to be related to specific ingredients and geographies, and we remain very confident that any contaminated product associated with this outbreak has been removed from our supply chain,” Chief Supply Chain Officer Cesar Pina said. and has been withdrawn from all McDonald’s restaurants. said in the letter Sent to the company’s US system.
Peña said testing by the Colorado Department of Agriculture did not detect E. coli in beef patty samples collected from area restaurants. The agency does not plan to conduct further testing of the company’s beef.
McDonald’s, 1 month
Instead, health authorities are targeting the onion strips used in the Quarter Pounder as a possible suspect in the outbreak. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still investigating whether onions produced at Taylor Farms were involved. McDonald’s has indefinitely stopped using Taylor Farms as a supplier of the ingredient.
McDonald’s is now requiring its beef suppliers to produce the fresh beef patties used in the new quarter-pound burgers, Piner wrote in a letter sent to the company’s U.S. systems. Customers can expect to see the menu item at all restaurants over the next week, although this will be on a rolling basis depending on delivery and replenishment operations.
An E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s has resulted in 75 cases in 13 states, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Of the 61 patients with information, 22 have been hospitalized, two of whom have developed a serious condition that can lead to kidney failure, called hemolytic uremic syndrome. The agency also previously said an elderly person in Colorado died.
Based on the cases reported so far, the outbreak occurred between September 27 and October 11.
McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Ehlinger apologizes in video to customers who felt “uncomfortable, scared, or unsure” Posted on company website.
“On behalf of the McDonald’s system, I hope you can hear my voice: We are sorry,” he said.
McDonald’s is expected to report third-quarter earnings before the bell on Tuesday. The company’s shares have fallen 7% since the CDC linked the E. coli outbreak to its restaurants.
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