McDonald’s resumed sales of its Quarter Pounder burgers in all U.S. locations, having pulled them from the shelves for a reported E. coli outbreak. The beef patties were ruled out as a source of contamination after the Colorado Department of Agriculture ran extensive tests on them and found nothing amiss.
Last week, McDonald’s stopped selling Quarter Pounders at around 20% of its U.S. restaurants mainly in areas that could have been affected by the outbreak. According to Cesar Piña, McDonald’s North America Chief Supply Chain Officer, the problem appears to be limited to certain ingredients and geographic locations. Piña said he is hopeful that any contaminated products have already been taken out of the supply chain.
The FDA first had its suspicions that the slivered onions in the Quarter Pounders were connected with the outbreak. Therefore, McDonald’s ended its tendering with Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility and consequently withdrew the onions from its supply chain. The 900 affected locations, which have been getting onions from this facility, will sell Quarter Pounders without the said ingredient.
So far, several individuals who are reported to have caught the illness have sued McDonald’s. On its part, the US Centers for Disease Control has issued a public advisory that it claims can be distributed among individuals who have dined on the Quarter Pounder and begin to notice diarrhea, fever, and vomiting.
According to this report, it is clear that individuals will begin to observe these symptoms within four days from when they took it, most recovering after one week, and some have been hospitalized if they happen to be extremely bad cases.
This adds a challenging period for McDonald’s as its shares have dropped over 7.5% since the CDC reported the outbreak. The fast-food giant also recently posted its first global sales decline in three years, which was attributed to inflationary pressures on lower-income customers, prompting the company to emphasize affordable value meal options in response to economic challenges.