McDonald’s Quarter Pounder returns to menu after testing negative for E. coli

McDonald’s said Sunday that its Quarter Pounder will be on sale at all restaurants next week after the hamburger tested negative for E. coli. File photo: Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License photo

Oct. 28 (UPI) — McDonald’s will resume selling Quarter Pounder burgers in all restaurants this week after reporting that test results found no E. coli bacteria in its beef patties, the US fast food giant announced.

Early last week, the iconic American restaurant pulled the Quarter Pounder from its menu, mainly in Midwest and Mountain states, amid a growing E. coli outbreak linked to the hamburger sandwich.

As of Friday, at least 75 cases of E. coli have been detected so far in 13 states affected by the outbreak. At least 22 people were hospitalized and one person died.

Last week McDonald’s identified chopped onions supplied to approximately 900 restaurants by the Taylor Farms facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a potential source of the outbreak.

Late Sunday, McDonald’s announced that testing by the Colorado Department of Agriculture confirmed that no E. Coli bacteria had been detected in its quarter-pound beef patties.

“The issue appears to be related to a specific ingredient and geographic location, and we are confident that any contaminated products related to the outbreak have been removed from our supply chain and are no longer in any McDonald’s restaurants,” Cesar Piña, head of McDonald’s North America specialist for supply chain, said w internal message.

McDonald’s said it was informed of the test results over the weekend and is asking its beef suppliers to produce a new supply of beef patties for the affected regions, with the expectation that the Quarter Pounder will be available in all restaurants in the coming week.

900 restaurants that received chopped onions from Taylor Farms in Colorado will resume selling Quarter Pounders, but without the chopped onion, they said.

In the wake of the outbreak, McDonald’s announced it was indefinitely ceasing sourcing onions from its Taylor Farms plant in Colorado.