McDonald’s says onions are the cause of E. coli outbreak, no longer being served
UPDATE (8:45 AM): Leadership at McDonald's says the onions that caused a fatal E. coli outbreak are no longer being served.
The fast food chain's President Joe Erlinger posted a video apologizing for the outbreak Sunday night.
In the video, Erlinger says he is confident that it's safe to eat at McDonald's restaurants, and employees acted quickly to uncover the source of the outbreak and remove it from their supply chain.
"I also want to address customers who ate at McDonald's and are feeling any number of things: ill, scared, or uncertain. I know that our relationship is built on trust. You trust us to serve you safe food every time.
On behalf of the McDonald's system, I want you to hear from me: we are sorry. For those customers affected, you have my COMMITMENT that, led by our values: we will make this right.
Our doing the right thing will show up in various ways big and small, public and private. And it means also taking a moment to thank McDonald's employees, franchisees and restaurant teams who have worked round the clock, Because of your work, this issue was quickly identified and CONTAINED. Because of your work, our customers can be CONFIDENT that any contaminated product related to this outbreak has been removed from our supply chain. Because of your work, we can CONFIDENTLY say that it's safe to eat at McDonald's restaurants."
Joe Erlinger, McDonald's President
As of Friday, 75 people across 13 states had been infected with the E. coli strain and one person had died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - According to a company spokesperson, McDonald's Quarter Pounder beef patties are not the source of a recent E. coli outbreak.
The spokesperson cited testing by the Colorado Agriculture Department.
Testing found that no E. coli was detected in samples of beef patties linked to the deadly outbreak.
Officials believe the most likely source of contamination was slivered onions from a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado Springs.
The onions were sold in stores in Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming.
The Agriculture Department has no further plans to test the beef patties and the patties have been ruled out as the source of the outbreak.
According to the company spokesperson, McDonald's has removed the Taylor Farms onions from its supply chain indefinitely.
No other burgers or McDonald's menu items were affected by the outbreak.
