A McDonalds restaurant is pictured in South Ogden, Utah, on Friday, Nov. 25, 2024. (McKenzie Romero/Utah News Dispatch)
Health departments across the country are discovering more E. coli cases linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders, including Utah, which registered five patients as of Thursday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least 75 people have been impacted by the multi-state outbreak, up from the 49 cases first reported on Tuesday. This spread was responsible for the death of an older adult in Colorado, according to the agency’s website. Throughout the country, 22 patients have been hospitalized and two people “developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that can cause kidney failure.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Utah cases are spread throughout the state, Delaney Moore, epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services said on Friday. More information isn’t available to the public due to patient privacy. But, Moore said, there isn’t a specific hotspot in the state.
“Something I do want to highlight is that E. coli can be a really serious illness. Most people are going to recover on their own, but there are some folks who can end up hospitalized. There’s a particular complication with E. coli where some people can have kidney failure,” Moore said. “It’s a really nasty disease.”
E. coli linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders in Utah
Those experiencing symptoms including high fever, bloody diarrhea, nausea and vomiting should see a doctor, Moore recommended.
The most recent case registered by the CDC was on Oct. 10. However, more cases may pop up, as it may take three to four weeks before the states can link an individual case with the outbreak, Moore said. But, as of now, the risk to the public is very low.
“That’s not a panic thing. It’s something we expect. These are people that we’re expecting have eaten the Quarter Pounder before it was taken off the menu, and we’re just now learning about their illnesses and investigating,” she said.
The cause of the spread hasn’t been fully determined. However, according to preliminary traceback information, the slivered onions used in the burgers are the likely source. Taylor Farms, the slivered onion supplier of the affected restaurants, recalled its yellow onions and asked customers to remove them from their locations, according to the CDC.
According to a Friday statement from McDonalds, about 900 locations in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, and portions of other states had received onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility. Some of them were in transportation hubs, such as airports, “which may account for illnesses in additional states.”
“While McDonald’s removed all slivered onions produced from this facility as of October 22, 2024, due to broad concern and our unwavering commitment to food safety we have made the decision to stop sourcing onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility indefinitely,” the company wrote.
An additional investigation of the beef patties is also taking place. As of now, Quarter Pounders remain unavailable in some states, including Utah.
The burgers may be reinstated in the coming weeks, but timing will vary, according to local markets, an earlier message from McDonald’s North America Chief Supply Chain Officer Cesar Piña said.