From September to November 2024, 104 people were sick after eating at McDonald’s. Out of those 104 people, one person died, and another, a child, was diagnosed with HUS (Haemolytic Uremic Syndrome), a syndrome that increases the likelihood of kidney failure.The reason? An sudden outbreak of E. coli or Escherichia coli.
While most E. coli are classified as harmless bacteria that live inside of the intestinal tract of many organisms, some E. coli are linked to causing problems within the intestinal tract with symptoms, such as diarrhea and urinary tract infections.
One of the variants of E. coli, O157:H7, the main cause of the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder E. coli outbreak, was caused by contaminated onions from Taylor Farms, a large company that provides produce for many large restaurant and supermarket chains.
The Farm has since recalled all onions sent to restaurant chains, preventing further cases of E. coli infections. But this is not the first time an E. coli outbreak was linked to Taylor Farms. In 2019, a contamination of irrigation water within romaine lettuce crops grown in Salinas Valley harmed 167 people in the United States.
Yet it’s not just McDonald’s that was affected with this sudden outbreak of E. coli. Many other fast food chains such as Burger King, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC have ceased adding onions in response to the outbreak. More recently, E. coli has been linked to organic baby carrots sold at Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, Whole Foods, and Target, after causing fifteen hospitalizations and one death.
But why has there been so much news on the E. coli outbreak? The main reason seems to be HUS, a life threatening disease most common in younger people. HUS is a disease that damages the kidney’s blood vessels and once diagnosed, no medication would be available to terminate it.
However, laws are being put in place to counter the outbreaks of E. coli. For example, the F.D.A published a finalized Subpart E of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule on May 6, 2024, which advocated for farmers to take steps to minimize the likelihood of contamination.