The investigation into the E. coli outbreak in McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers that has claimed the life of at least one person and sickened nearly 50 others increasingly points to the sliced onions served on the burgers.
But neither the company nor public health officials have publicly said where the onions were grown or whether they were also sent to other restaurants.
The onions in question, according to a McDonald’s spokesperson, come from a single source. They are then sliced and packaged as raw vegetables in individual bags and sent to restaurants.
“It’s a process (that includes) raw onions in a facility and then they are sent to McDonald’s,” the spokesperson said.
McDonald’s has removed sliced onions and quarter-pounder patties, both used for Quarter Pounder burgers, from its menu in affected areas.
The E. coli strain in the outbreak, called O157:H7, produces a potent toxin that can damage the lining of the small intestine, the Mayo Clinic said.
If onions are confirmed to be the source, It would be the first time this strain has been linked to a raw onion outbreak.according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As of Wednesday, 49 people had contracted E. coli infections related to the outbreak. One person, an elderly adult, died. Another 10 people have been hospitalized, including a child who developed a kidney disease called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
A Greeley, Colorado, man is suing McDonald’s, alleging he became ill and had to be hospitalized.
Matt Wise, chief of the CDC’s Outbreak Prevention and Response Branch, told NBC News that he expects the number of patients to increase in the coming days as reports of cases come in.
“We think it’s going to be driven by people who ate Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s” before they were removed from the menu.
“For someone walking into a McDonald’s today,” he said, any risk has been greatly reduced.
The majority of patients, 26, They are located in Colorado18 of them in Mesa County. The senior who died lived in that county.
Six of the Colorado patients are teenagers, said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist.
Nebraska has reported nine cases. Other patients have been reported in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The first case involving quarter-pound hamburgers occurred in Colorado on September 27. State health officials alerted the CDC to an unusual increase in E. coli cases on October 10.
“We were seeing a higher number of cases than expected,” Herlihy said. “Several of them had eaten at McDonald’s. “That’s what really started to put the puzzle together for us.”
The CDC intensified its investigation on October 15.
Lowell Schiller, a former Food and Drug Administration official, said this is not the first time health agencies have faced an outbreak at a large restaurant chain, citing the E. coli in the Chipotle chain in 2015.
An outstanding question, Schiller said, is whether the onions were supplied solely to McDonald’s or whether they are going to other large restaurant chains, something he said the FDA is likely thinking about as well.
What’s more, if the contamination came from a farm, which Schiller said is most likely, other products could have been affected.
“If they went to other supermarkets or restaurants, there could be more recalls (from the market) in the future,” he said.
Neither state nor federal public health officials named a specific farm or supplier of the sliced onions Wednesday, although McDonald’s said it has focused on a single supplier which serves three distribution centers. McDonald’s declined to name the supplier.
There is no indication that diced onions in other McDonald’s menu offerings are part of the outbreak.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the Department of Agriculture that oversees meat, poultry and egg products, is also working with the FDA and CDC on the investigation.
An FSIS spokesperson said contamination of quarter-pound beef patties is “very unlikely,” citing the FDA’s tracing effort, which “strongly targets” onions.
“While sliced onions are the likely source, FSIS continues to verify the safety of ground beef used“said the spokesperson. “A state partner has collected samples of the ground beef burgers for analysis.”
An FDA spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday, saying the outbreak is “still a rapidly evolving situation.”
The FDA said in a statement Tuesday that symptoms can include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever, nausea and/or vomiting, which begin anywhere from a few days after the contaminated food is consumed or up to nine days longer. late. Some infections can cause severe bloody diarrhea and lead to life-threatening conditions, such as hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure.
