The 2024 McDonald's ''E. coli'' outbreak was an outbreak from September to October 2024 involving contaminated slivered onions on

Quarter Pounder The Quarter Pounder is a brand of hamburger introduced in 1971 by a Fremont, California franchisee of international fast food chain McDonald's and extended nationwide in 1973. Its name refers to the beef patty having a precooked weight of app ...

s sold at

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

stores in 14 U.S. states. At least 104 people contracted ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

'', and one person died. __TOC__

Outbreak

The

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) issued a public warning through its Coordinated Outbreak Response & Evaluation Network (CORE Network) about the E. coli outbreak on October 22. Their initial investigation noted 49 cases of E. coli throughout 10 U.S. states (Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, and portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Oklahoma). The

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

(CDC) at the time did not confirm the origin, but the government agency suspected it was either slivered onions or beef patties. An update to the investigation was published on October 25 with 26 new cases, 12 new hospitalizations, and 3 new U.S. states (Oregon, Washington, and Utah). On October 22, McDonald's stores in the affected states temporarily removed the Quarter Pounder from the menu or stopped serving it with the specific slivered onions and beef patties. The

Colorado Department of Agriculture The Colorado Department of Agriculture is the principal department of the Colorado state government that manages agriculture, food safety, agriculture-related consumer protection, and conservation districts. Kate Greenberg was appointed as Commi ...

(CDA) laboratories analyzed subsamples from all the lots of McDonald's brand fresh and frozen beef patties collected from various McDonald's locations in Colorado and found them to be negative for E. coli. A second update on the investigation was published on October 30, stating that epidemiologic and traceback information shows that fresh, slivered onions were the likely source of illness in this outbreak. The

Food Safety and Inspection Service The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that United States' commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg prod ...

(FSIS) performed a traceback of beef patties served on Quarter Pounders at McDonald's, and evidence did not point to ground beef as the likely source of contamination. The

is looking into a

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

onion "grower of interest". A third update was published on November 13, adding 14 new cases, 7 new hospitalizations, and North Carolina to the affected states. The FDA tested recalled onions in which one sample tested positive for non-O157:H7 Shiga toxin-producing ''E. coli''. The ''E. coli'' found was not the outbreak strain. A fourth and final update was published on December 3, with no additional cases. The CDC declared the outbreak over.

Infection

''Escherichia coli'' O157:H7 is a

serotype A serotype or serovar is a distinct variation within a species of bacteria or virus or among immune cells of different individuals. These microorganisms, viruses, or Cell (biology), cells are classified together based on their shared reactivity ...

of the bacterial species ''Escherichia coli'' and is one of the Shiga-like toxin–producing types of ''E. coli''. It is a cause of

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

, typically

foodborne illness Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such ...

, through consumption of contaminated and raw food, including

raw milk Raw milk or unpasteurized milk is milk that has not undergone pasteurization, a process of heating liquid foods to kill pathogens for safe consumption and extension of shelf life. Proponents of raw milk have alleged numerous purported benefits t ...

and undercooked

ground beef Ground beef, hamburger, hamburger meat (North American English), minced beef or beef mince (Commonwealth English; often just generically referred to as ground meat, ''mince'' or ''mincemeat'') is beef that has been finely chopped with a knife or ...

Responses

On October 25, Taylor Farms, the supplier of the slivered onions to the affected stores, initiated a voluntary recall on yellow onions. While there were growers of interest that supplied Taylor Farms, FDA has not been able to implicate the specific grower. On December 3, 2024, the CDC declared the outbreak was "over," and the FDA announced they had closed their investigation. The outbreak prompted several lawsuits against both McDonald's and the onion supplier, Taylor Fresh Foods. On October 23, 2024, a man who fell ill after eating a sandwich at a McDonald's location in

Greeley, Colorado Greeley is the home rule municipality city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Weld County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,795 at the 2020 United States census, an increase of 17.12% since the ...

, filed one of the first lawsuits related to the incident. Later that month, a man filed a proposed

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against McDonald's, alleging that the fast-food chain failed to disclose the risk of E. coli contamination leading to the illnesses. In November 2024, a lawsuit seeking class action status was filed in the

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

against Taylor Fresh Foods, alleging that the company failed to warn consumers of an E. coli risk.

References

{{Escherichia coli 2024 disease outbreaks 2024 disasters in the United States Escherichia coli outbreaks Disease outbreaks in the United States Food recalls McDonald's Restaurant food safety scandals

Outbreak

Infection

Responses

See also

References