A California-based produce company was the source of fresh onions linked to a deadly E. coli food poisoning outbreak at McDonald’s, officials with the restaurant chain said Thursday. Meanwhile, other fast-food restaurants — including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and Burger King — pulled onions from some menus.
McDonald’s officials said that Taylor Farms, of Salinas, California, sent onions to one distribution facility, which led the fast-food chain to remove Quarter Pounder hamburgers from restaurants in several states. McDonald’s didn’t say which facility it was.
An outbreak tied to the burgers has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states, including a person who died, federal health officials have said. Investigators said they were focused on slivered onions as a potential source of the infections.
U.S. Foods, a major wholesaler to restaurants across the country, said Thursday that Taylor Farms had issued a recall this week for peeled whole and diced yellow onions for potential E. coli contamination. The recalled onions came from a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado, a U.S. Foods spokesperson said. But the wholesaler also noted that it wasn’t a McDonald’s supplier and that its recall didn’t include any products sold at the fast-food chain’s restaurants.
Taylor Farms did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not confirm that the agency is investigating Taylor Farms. A spokesperson said Thursday that the agency is “looking at all sources” of the outbreak.
In the meantime, other national restaurant chains temporarily stopped using fresh onions.
“As we continue to monitor the recently reported E. coli outbreak, and out of an abundance of caution, we have proactively removed fresh onions from select Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants,” Yum Brands said in a statement.
Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands wouldn’t say where onions were removed or whether the company uses the same supplier as McDonald’s. Yum Brands said it will continue to follow guidance from regulators and its suppliers.
Restaurant Brands International, which owns Burger King, said Thursday that 5% of its restaurants use onions distributed by Taylor Farms’ Colorado facility. Burger King restaurants get deliveries of whole, fresh onions and its employees wash, peel and slice them.
Even though it wasn’t contacted by health officials and it had no indications of illness, Restaurant Brands said it asked the restaurants that received onions from the Colorado facility to dispose of them two days ago. The company said it’s restocking with onions from other suppliers.
Chipotle said Thursday it doesn’t source onions from Taylor Farms or us any other ingredients from the Colorado facility.
Onions have been implicated in previous outbreaks. In 2015, Taylor Farms recalled a celery and onion mix used in Costco chicken salads after 19 people were sickened with E. coli. Last year, 80 people were sickened and one died in an outbreak of salmonella poisoning tied to bagged diced onions from Gills Onions of Oxnard, California.
At least 10 people have been hospitalized in the McDonald’s outbreak, including a child who suffered a severe kidney disease complication as a result of the infection. Illnesses were confirmed between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Victims were infected with E. coli 0157:H7, a type of bacteria that produces a dangerous toxin. It causes about 74,000 infections in the U.S. annually, leading to more than 2,000 hospitalizations and 61 deaths each year, according to CDC.
A Greeley, Colorado, man is suing McDonald’s after contracting an E. coli infection. In a lawsuit filed this week, Eric Stelly said he ate food from local McDonald’s on Oct. 4 and fell ill two days later. After he sought emergency care, health officials confirmed his infection was part of the outbreak.
Symptoms occur of E. coli poisoning can occur quickly, within a day or two of eating contaminated food. They typically include fever, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea and signs of dehydration — little or no peeing, increased thirst and dizziness. The infection is especially dangerous for children younger than 5, people who are elderly, pregnant or who have weakened immune systems.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
McDonald's says onions from California-based produce company linked to deadly E. coli outbreak
McDonald's says onions from California-based produce company linked to deadly E. coli outbreak
FILE - A McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder is shown on March 6, 2018, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
CLARKSTON, Ga. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is enlisting some of her most high-profile surrogates in the closing days of the campaign, hoping those names will help energize her supporters to vote early in the 2024 election.
On Thursday, Harris will headline a Georgia rally that will include a performance by Bruce Springsteen and an appearance by former President Barack Obama, still one of the biggest names in Democratic politics.
Harris' rally in Clarkston — an eastern Atlanta suburb — is at a high school football stadium where the audience reflected the suburb’s reputation as the “most diverse square mile in America.” The community has taken in waves of immigrants and refugees, and 40% of its population was foreign-born in 2020.
The DJ working the crowd before the event started called out not only to graduates of historically Black colleges and universities, but to West Indians. Among those in the snaking line to enter were people of Asian descent and women in hijabs.
Many attendees said they were trying to push their relatives and neighbors to the polls to vote for Harris, either through formal volunteer efforts or on their own. “I decided to go volunteer because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut,” said Beverly Payne, who lives in Cumming, a Republican suburban stronghold north of Atlanta.
Payne said she is still working on persuading her mother but has already swung one Georgia vote to Harris. “My 85-year-old father has gone Democratic for the first time in his life,” she said.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson and director Spike Lee also spoke at the start of the event.
“No matter what kind of shenanigans, skullduggery and subterfuge, the okie-doke, we’re not going back,” Lee proclaimed.
On Friday, Harris travels to Texas for a Houston rally with Beyoncé, according to three people familiar with the matter. The singer is a Houston native, and her 2016 song “Freedom” has become Harris’ campaign anthem.
While the Friday rally is in a red state that even the most optimistic Democrat knows the vice president is unlikely to turn blue in November, the event Thursday in Georgia highlights that state's prominent place in her possible path to defeating former President Donald Trump.
Democrats, led by then-former Vice President Joe Biden and Harris, won Georgia in 2020, becoming the first Democratic presidential campaign to win the Southern state since Bill Clinton in 1992. Harris’ campaign is hopeful she can keep the state blue in 2024.
Polls of likely voters in Georgia from NYT/Siena to Fox News to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution show a tight race between Trump and Harris.
Thursday's event is the first in the campaign’s “When We Vote We Win” concert series that aims to encourage Harris supporters to vote before Election Day.
Harris said she's "very honored” to have Obama’s support, and called Springsteen an “American icon.” Actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry and DJ Mix Master David will also headline the event.
Harris is not the only member of the Democratic campaign to lean on star power in the final days. Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate, has events in North Carolina on Thursday alongside singer-songwriter James Taylor.
Democrats are known for leaning on high-profile surrogates in the final days of presidential races.
Springsteen has long been a supporter of Democratic presidential campaigns. The artist backed Obama in 2008 and 2012, even endorsing the would-be president in the contentious 2008 Democratic primary. He backed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, performing at a Philadelphia rally on the eve of Election Day, and endorsed Biden in 2020. The New Jersey artist endorsed Harris earlier this month, calling Trump the "most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime.”
Beyoncé, too, backed Clinton in 2016, performing at an event in Cleveland alongside husband and rapper Jay Z just days before Election Day that year. And Taylor has become a staple at Democratic events and fundraisers.
But Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016, despite the considerable star power behind her, serves as a warning for Democrats that energy provided by big-name artists like Springsteen and Beyoncé is often not enough to win an election.
Harris campaign advisers, though, see events like those in Georgia and Texas as major moments to mobilize voter enthusiasm and get out the vote before Election Day.
According to the Associated Press count, 2,025,645 people in Georgia have already voted early in-person, while an additional 134,336 mail-in ballots have been submitted in the 2024 general election.
Merica reported from Washington. Jeff Amy contributed to this report from Clarkston.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters in Philadelphia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters in Philadelphia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Former President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally supporting Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris Vice waves as she boards Air Force Two at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, en route to Atlanta. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
