Fast food chain and giant McDonald’s Corp. is currently being sued amid an E. coli outbreak in its famous Quarter Pounder burgers due to contaminated onions provided by Taylor Farms. McDonald’s should take responsibility for contaminated food.
On Oct. 30, McDonald’s announced that the likely source of the outbreak was the slivered onions served with many of the burgers. The outbreak left 27 hospitalized, one dead and has led other fast-food companies to withdraw from Taylor Farms onion sourcing.
“You have our commitment, led by our values that we will make this right,” President of McDonald’s’ U.S. division Joe Erlinger said in a statement to CBS.
On Oct. 22, the Centers for Disease Control launched an investigation amid reports of illness and deaths where most people reported eating the Quarter Pounder hamburger at McDonald’s before becoming sick. Epidemiological and trace-back information showed that the slivered onions were the likely source of the infection.
So far there have been 90 cases of E. coli from McDonald’s in 13 states including Colorado and Nebraska, which reported the largest numbers of people fallen ill. Although the likelihood of contaminated onions still being available is low, parent companies such as Yum Brands that owns Burger King, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut have decided to no longer source their onions from Taylor Farms.
Other companies should work to eliminate any possibility of the contaminated onions making it into food.
One of the customers who became sick, Kamberlyn Bowler, planned to sue the major fast food chain with the help of national food poisoning attorney Ron Simon, along with nine others who have been affected by the outbreak.
In a video posted on Oct. 27, Erlinger vowed to regain customers’ trust.
Though E. coli is most likely to originate from surface water areas frequently visited by animals, sliced packaging of vegetables can also provide a breeding ground for bacteria.
Since Taylor Farms is actually a facility and not a farm, the likelihood of contamination is high due to the high-moisture content of these buildings. The infection that affects 74,000 people in the U.S. annually is mitigated through the disposal of all Taylor Farms yellow onions from fast-food chains and inspections at Taylor Foods processing center as well as an onion grower of interest in Washington State.
McDonald’s has stopped sourcing onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility indefinitely and has asked its beef suppliers to produce a new supply of fresh beef patties as an added safety measure to resume distribution of the Quarter Pounder. In the future, McDonald’s should work to prevent outbreaks such as these.
