As of October 24, McDonald’s has confirmed that Taylor Farms was the supplier of onions that have been linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak traced to Quarter Pounder burgers sold at the chain’s restaurants in at least 10 states.

Slivered onions served on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers have become the suspected source of E. coli 0157:H7 that has sickened 49 people across 10 states. One person has died and 10 have been hospitalized. One child has developed a complication that causes kidney damage, Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. Colorado has been the hardest hit state in the outbreak with 29 of the 49 patients living there. Other states with outbreak patients are Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, and portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

In addition, on October 23, US Foods reported that Taylor Farms had recalled whole, peeled onions as well as diced onions. But the wholesaler also said that it wasn’t a McDonald’s supplier and that its recall didn’t include any products sold at the fast-food chain’s restaurants.

Other fast-food chains have pulled fresh onions from their menus. Those restaurants include Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and Burger King. Illegal Pete’s also took onions off the menu according to a US Foods recall notice. US Foods, the country’s largest supplier of food-to-food service operations including restaurants in all 50 states, said the recalled onions came from a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado. 

Past Recent Onion Outbreaks:

80 illnesses in 23 states linked to Gills Onions

1040 illness in 41 states linked to ProSource and Keeler Family Parms Onions

1127 illness in 48 states linked to Thomson Onions

19 illnesses in 7 states linked to Taylor Farms Onion and Celery Mix

William “Bill” Marler has been a food safety lawyer and advocate since the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli Outbreak which was chronicled in the book, “Poisoned” and in the recent Emmy Award winning Netflix documentary by the same name. Bill work has been profiled in the New Yorker, “A Bug in the System;” the Seattle Times, “30 years after the deadly E. coli outbreak, A Seattle attorney still fights for food safety;” the Washington Post, “He helped make burgers safer, Now he is fighting food poisoning again;” and several others

Dozens of times a year Bill speaks to industry and government throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, China and Australia on why it is important to prevent foodborne illnesses.  He is also a frequent commentator on food litigation and food safety on Marler Blog. Bill is also the publisher of Food Safety News.