The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially closed the books on the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak, saying the threat is over.
The agency first reported the outbreak on Oct. 22 and quickly pointed a finger at slivered onions used on quarter pounders as the source of the contamination.
"The initial findings from the investigation indicate that a subset of illnesses may be linked to slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier that serves three distribution centers," said McDonald's North America Chief Supply Chain Officer Cesar Piña in an Oct. 22 statement.
"All local restaurants have been instructed to remove this product from their supply and we have paused the distribution of all slivered onions in the impacted area.
McDonald’s temporarily removed the Quarter Pounder from restaurants in the impacted area, including Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, as well as portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
A week later, Quarter Pounders were returned to the menu, without onions, in the affected states.
A month and a half later, the CDC reports that 104 people in 14 states were infected in the outbreak. Among that 104 people, 27 had to be hospitalized and one person, an older adult in Colorado, died after eating the tainted onions.