Beef patties have been ruled out as the source of the E. coli outbreak, McDonald's said on Sunday, adding the fast-food giant will soon resume sales of its quarter-pounder hamburgers. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains that the contamination is most likely linked to slivered onions sourced from a specific supplier, McDonald's said. The company plans to reintroduce the quarter pounder but without slivered onions within a week, reported Reuters.
McDonald's had pulled out the quarter pounder from around 20 per cent of its US outlets, specifically in states such as Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming and parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
According to Reuters, Cesar Pina, the chief supply chain officer for McDonald's, reassured the public, stating, “We remain very confident that any contaminated product related to this outbreak has been removed from our supply chain and is out of all McDonald's restaurants.”
The Colorado Department of Agriculture conducted detailed testing, confirming all subsamples from various batches of McDonald's fresh and frozen beef patties returned negative results for E. coli. The department also indicated that it concluded its beef testing and did not foresee the need for additional samples.
The E. coli outbreak in the US has caused at least one death in Colorado and sickened nearly 75 others across multiple states in the US.
Authorities had been probing the potential involvement of McDonald's beef patties in the outbreak, which raised concerns among consumers and health officials alike.
In response to the outbreak, various fast-food chains across the US removed fresh onions from their menus after the vegetable was believed to be a potential source of contamination.
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