2 weeks Ago
Yellow onions from a California company have been identified as the likely culprit in a recent E. coli outbreak that killed a Colorado man, led to dozens of hospitalizations and spurred voluntary recalls by a growing number of businesses that fear they may have received, or distributed, infected produce, according to reporting by The Associated Press. As health inspectors continue to investigate the cause of the deadly outbreak first reported by those who’d consumed McDonald's Quarter Pounder burger, the fast food company confirmed to the AP that Taylor Farms, of Salinas, Calif.
, was the source of onions that led the company to pull its flagship burger — and sliced onions — from the menu in several states, including Colorado. Taylor Farms has a distribution center in Colorado Springs. The outbreak hit especially hard in Colorado, which has recorded more than two dozen cases of the virus and the sole death, an elderly resident of Mesa County.
Authorities have not yet released the victim’s name. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday issued a food safety alert about the “fast-moving” outbreak, as the number of cases continued to rise. The number of people infected by the E.
coli outbreak tied to McDonald's increased to 75 from 49, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday in multiple reports.
Infectious disease experts say that the particular strain of E. coli seen in this outbreak is “the bogeyman” of all of the different types because of the toxins it produces. “We all have E.
coli in our gut but the 157H7 E. coli strain carries an extra toxin which kills the cells in your intestines and can disseminate into the kidneys,” said Dr. David Merriam, Metropolitan State University of Denver assistant biology professor.
Already this year, the CDC has reported two other 157H7 E. coli outbreaks — one from organic walnuts sold in bins and another from Raw Farm brand raw cheddar cheese, which made seven people sick including some Colorado residents. The investigations into both of those outbreaks are over.
Merriam said that those two incidents were not as big as this one involving the onions in McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. He said that investigators have likely not ruled out the possibility that the burger patties could be a source of the bad E. coli.
The contamination could have originated in a number of ways, including coming from fertilizer used in the field, possibly an issue where there were animals in the field, or, said Merriam, “it could be one person who wasn’t practicing good hygiene.” Merriam said that 157H7 multiplies at an alarming rate. One cell can morph into a million cells in a matter of four to six hours.
As investigations continue, a growing number of restaurants in affected regions are continuing to hold, and pull, onions from the menu, including Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut and Illegal Pete's in Colorado Springs. US Foods, a food distribution company that supplies restaurants and food service operators nationwide, said several regional distribution centers for Taylor Farms, including one located in Colorado Springs, issued recalls of certain onion products. According to a recall notification sent to potentially impacted warehouses: “US Foods Quality Assurance received notification that TAYLOR FARMS is conducting a Recall of Onions.
The reason for the recall is due to potential E.coli contamination. There is a potential food safety concern.
Our records show that affected product may have been sent to your location. “It is urgent that you stop using affected product as soon as possible.” A Greeley man who says he was sickened by a McDonald’s burger that contained contaminated onions filed a lawsuit against the fast food giant this week.
Even in an otherwise healthy body, E.coli can wreak havoc. Before federal regulations were tightened around the beef industry, an E.
coli outbreak tied to Jack in the Box burgers killed four people and sent more than 170 to the hospital in the early 1990s. In September, deli meat from the Boar's Head plant in Virginia was found to have caused the largest U.S.
outbreak of listeria in more than a decade. Almost 60 people were reported as infected with the foodborne bacterial illness, and 10 people died. A quick response by public health agencies is vital in saving lives, said Tatiana Bailey, executive director of Data-Driven Economic Strategies, a Springs company that compiles and analyzes health and economic data.
“If it wasn’t identified quickly, and we had a lot of people getting sick before we could trace where it’s coming from” the devastating impact of an outbreak is hard to predict, she said. “People kind of take for granted clean water, clean food, immunizations and so forth that these public health agencies provide ..
. but the dollars and cents that goes into public health agencies for this kind of tracking and testing pays for itself in spades.” According to a report prepared by Bailey’s company about the return on investment in public health programs and efforts locally, it was estimated that 1,084 cases of food-borne illness occurred in El Paso County in 2023.
That number, she said, likely fell short of actual incidents. “It’s reported through the ER, and the testing doesn’t happen when people don’t report — or until they become so sick they’re in distress and get hospitalized,” said Bailey. “Chances are that a lot more people have gotten sick than we realize.
” The CDC estimates that for every documented case of foodborne illness, another 27 cases go unreported..
