Fast food giants have pulled fresh onions from their US menus after an E. coli outbreak at a McDonald’s restaurant that killed one person and sickened 49 others.
McDonald’s, along with competitors including Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, have taken action, removing fresh onions from their menus at select branches in the United States.
The ingredient is believed to be the likely source of the outbreak that led to this McDonald’s removes the Quarter Pounder Of its five American restaurants.
The onions are said to have come from Taylor Farms, a California-based company.
Beef patties are now also under scrutiny by regulators who are investigating whether they could also be affected.
However, when beef is cooked properly, the E. coli is killed – whereas a Quarter Pounder is served with raw onions.
The popular burger has been recalled from restaurants across states including Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, and in parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
At least ten people were hospitalized in the McDonald’s outbreak, including a child who suffered complications from acute kidney disease as a result.
Cases of the disease were confirmed between September 27 and October 11, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
File photo: AP
“They’re off our list.”
About 5% of Burger King locations in the United States have also pulled the ingredient from the menu, a company spokesperson said.
Eric Stilley, of Greeley, Colorado, is suing McDonald’s after contracting an E. coli infection.
In a lawsuit, he said he ate at a McDonald’s restaurant on October 4, before falling ill two days later and seeking emergency care — after which health officials confirmed his infection was part of the outbreak.
McDonald’s said Thursday that Taylor Farms supplied the onions.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed Taylor Farms as the supplier and added: “Yellow onions were sold to additional food service customers.”
“Customers who received the recalled onions have been notified directly of the recall,” an FDA spokesperson said.
Read more from Sky News:
The Menendez brothers could be released early
Cardi B is having a medical emergency
Springsteen says Trump will be “American tyrant.”
Major food distributors, including US Foods and Sysco Corp, also notified customers of the recall.
“The company told us not to use any onions for the foreseeable future,” said a manager on duty inside a Burger King restaurant in Colorado. “They’re off our menu.”
Keep up with the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Click here
Onions have been implicated in previous outbreaks, and in 2015, Taylor Farms recalled a celery and onion mix used in Costo’s chicken salads after 19 people became ill with E. coli.
Then last year, 80 people became ill and one person died in a salmonella outbreak linked to diced onions from Gills Onions in Oxnard, California.