In Colorado on September 27, 2024, there was an outbreak of E. Coli caused from McDonalds Quater Pounder burgers. This has sickened at least 90 people, hospitalized 27, and caused 1 death. Cases have been discovered in 13 other states with the most illnesses in Colorado, Montana, and Nebraska. According to the CDC, the most likely cause of this illness is from the silvered onions found on the burger.
On October 22nd, 2024, Taylor Farms, the supplier of the silvered onions recalled them and stopped supplying McDonalds with them. There were 29 cases found in Colorado, 17 in Montana, 12 in Nebraska, and under 10 found in Missouri, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Iowa, Kansas, and Wisconsin.
A survey was taken of 50 randomly selected Lafayette High School students, and they were asked if they thought that McDonalds was good or bad. Out of the 50 students, 28 of them said that McDonalds was a good restaurant but only had a few good items on their menu. After the outbreak, McDonalds was asked if they had a significant amount of revenue loss. Mcdonalds responded that they did not experience a significant decline after the outbreak. Since the first wave of the incident there has been no more reported cases of E. Coli from the onions.
McDonalds CEO, Ian Borden said that the company believed it could restore customer confidence. Mcdonalds customer said that they do not blame McDonalds for the outbreak of E. Coli and that they blame the company that provides the silvered onions to them, since they were discovered to be the cause of the E. Coli. According to recent news, Taylor Farms, the provider of the onions are facing at least two lawsuits. One of which is against McDonalds as well because they served them the quarter pounder burger that had the contaminated onions on them.
Because of the recent outbreak of E. Coli which has been primarily linked to McDonalds, other fast-food restaurants have been pulling the onions out of caution. Restaurants such as, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut pulled onions in some of their locations because they may have received onions from the same supplier that supplied McDonalds. However, no other fast-food restaurants have experienced that any of their specific fast-food items have had E. Coli found in them.
Although McDonalds did not lose a lot of revenue, they are investing $100 million to accelerate the recovery of the locations that were severely affected by the outbreak. Since the first wave of the outbreak there has been no more cases found. The business that provided the onions is not shutting down, but it closed to the public for the time being.
