McDonald’s E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Dirty Equipment, Latest FDA Report Finds

The latest FDA report about the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak revealed that its origins weren’t what was originally thought. While initial reports suggested that the outbreak resulted from contaminated onions, a new FDA report suggests that the E. coli outbreak originated from dirty equipment in the processing plants. Let’s take a look at this latest development.

McDonald’s E. Coli Outbreak: Dirty Equipment, Poor Cleaning Protocol

According to a new report from CBS News, the Food and Drug Administration discovered hundreds of infractions at a McDonald’s supplier in connection with a deadly E. coli epidemic that resulted in over a hundred infections and a widespread recall of onions used in the fast-food chain’s products, including its Quarter Pounder burgers.

The infractions were discovered during an inspection of a Taylor Farms food manufacturing facility in Colorado, and they are described in an inspection report provided to CBS News in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

As a result of their findings, the FDA issued a document known as Form 483, which is a list of citations for circumstances that inspectors believed to be “injurious to health.”

Providing “slivered onions” to McDonald’s restaurants in a wide range of states has been the responsibility of the plant. A variety of additional goods are also produced by Taylor Farms, such as salads that are marketed as safe and ready to eat in supermarkets.

Even after employees allegedly finished the necessary cleaning processes, FDA inspectors reported seeing “numerous equipment with apparent biofilm and large amounts of food debris” surrounding the Taylor Farms site in Colorado Springs.

Even though agency inspectors reported seeing “several food contact surfaces that were not visually clean and should have been marked as a ‘Fail’,” the FDA claimed that Taylor Farms quality control staff had approved the facility’s cleaning as passing.

The FDA inspectors were concerned because the amount of food debris accumulating on the company’s equipment was so severe that it was causing cross-contamination. One business that had been purchasing green peppers from Taylor Farms reported that their ready-to-eat product contained onions.

The FDA’s inspectors claimed employees were also skimping on necessary personal hygiene measures. “Production employees handling RTE produce and food contact surfaces were not observed using any of the handwashing sinks in the facility,” the FDA’s inspectors wrote.

“We hold our suppliers to the highest expectations and standards of food safety. Prior to this inspection, and unrelated to its findings, McDonald’s stopped sourcing from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility,” McDonald’s said in a statement.

E. Coli Lawsuits

Even though McDonald’s restaurants are no longer experiencing an active E. coli outbreak, the drama surrounding it is still ongoing. In December, a family from Colorado sued the fast-food chain for the incident, saying that they became ill after visiting the restaurant and reportedly eating tainted burgers.

Geovanna Zambrano, 29, said she went to a restaurant in Colorado Springs on Oct. 17 and bought two Quarter Pounders for herself and her daughter. Zambrano claims that they both started throwing up, had terrible stomach cramps, and the next day they both had diarrhea. Following their hospital stay, they were diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis.

“The most basic duty of the companies that grow, package, cook and prepare our food is to not make us sick,” Morgan & Morgan attorneys John Morgan and Aaron Clite, who represent the Zambranos, said in the filed complaint. “We allege that McDonald’s, which touts itself as the world’s largest fast-food chain, has failed to meet that baseline expectation. Ms. Zambrano and her young child are dealing with the consequences of the alleged negligence of McDonald’s and Taylor Farms, which include not only their acute digestive symptoms but the potential to develop long-term health issues.”