An inspection has found that beef patties are not the source of an E. coli poisoning outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders, the company said on Sunday.
The results of the testing on Sunday were released by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. It said testing of several batches of fresh and frozen McDonald’s brand beef patties collected at locations where the outbreak was reported “tested negative for E. coli.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said experts are working to figure out which ingredient caused the poisonings.
McDonald’s said afterwards that the Royal Cheeseburger should reappear in all restaurants this week. McDonald’s chief supply chain officer César Piña also said:
We remain confident that any contaminated product associated with this (infectious) outbreak has been removed from our supply chain and is not present in all McDonald’s restaurants.
According to the CDC, the poisoning cases were reported between September 27 and October 11. A total of 75 people in 13 states including Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin were infected, one of the victims died. Cheeseburgers have been removed from one-fifth of the company’s restaurants.
McDonald’s and other fast food chains have also eliminated raw sliced onions from their dishes – it has emerged that the likely source of the contamination was a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado Springs that supplies the produce. Last week, the US filed its first lawsuit against McDonald’s after mass cheeseburger poisonings.
