The U.S. government said Tuesday it has closed its investigation into an tied to ѳٴDzԲ’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers after determining there is no longer a safety risk.
The outbreak, which , sickened at least 104 people in 14 states, including 30 people in Colorado, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Thirty-four of those people were hospitalized.
One person in Colorado died after eating at a McDonald’s in Mesa County, and
The FDA, which conducted the investigation along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments, linked the outbreak to yellow onions distributed by California-based and served raw on Quarter Pounders at ѳٴDzԲ’s restaurants in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and other states. Taylor Farms initiated a voluntary recall of yellow onions on Oct. 22.
Federal and state health officials in Colorado didn’t find the strain of E. coli that caused the illnesses in onions it tested or in any samples from the environment. But they concluded that evidence showed that recalled yellow onions were the likely source of the outbreak.
“ѳٴDzԲ’s is no longer serving recalled onions and there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak,” the FDA said Tuesday in a statement.
briefly from one-fifth of its U.S. stores as a result of the outbreak. The company found an alternate supplier and resumed selling Quarter Pounders with slivered onions at all U.S. stores last month.
But the outbreak has hurt demand. In mid-November, ѳٴDzԲ’s said it planned to to bring customers back to stores, including $65 million that will go directly to the hardest-hit franchisees.
Chicago-based McDonald’s wouldn’t say Tuesday whether its sales have returned to normal levels in the affected regions. But it thanked U.S. regulators for their quick action and said it remains confident in its rigorous food-safety standards.
