
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an outbreak of E. coli infections in the US, which resulted in the death of a person and left 26 people sick.
The outbreak is linked to Quarter Pounder hamburgers at US fast food chain McDonald’s.
CDC, together with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), is investigating the outbreak.
According to the agency, most people in the outbreak reported eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers before they became sick.
The authorities have not yet identified the specific food ingredient that was contaminated.
CDC said that McDonald’s is cooperating with investigation partners to determine what food ingredient in Quarter Pounders is making people sick.
It has stopped the use of fresh slivered onions and quarter-pound beef patties, which are used only on Quarter Pounders, in several states to identify the ingredient causing illness.
McDonald’s North America chief supply chain officer Cesar Piña in a statement said: “The initial findings from the investigation indicate that a subset of illnesses may be linked to slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier.
Marler Clark in Seattle founder Marler said: “Beef contamination is less common due to food safety measures. You’d have to have multiple restaurants under-cooking the meat.”
According to Reuters’ report, the E. coli O157:H7 strain was involved in the outbreak, which was the source of a 1993 outbreak that killed four children who ate hamburgers at Jack in the Box.
The outbreak spread across 10 states and is prevalent in Colorado, leaving 26 people sick.
In addition to Colorado, a few people also became sick in Nebraska, Utah, and Wyoming, while Kansas, Missouri, Oregon, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Montana had one case each.