McDonald’s suspends sale of ‘Quarterão’ in the US after bacterial outbreak
There are reports of 49 people infected by the same strain of the E. coli outbreak in 10 North American states as of this Tuesday (22). Most of the sick people are from Colorado or Nebraska. Additional cases have been reported in Oregon, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin.
Patients’ symptoms were recorded between September 27th and October 11th. One of the infected people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious disease that affects the blood vessels of the kidneys and can cause kidney failure. The death of an elderly man, who did not have hemolytic-uremic syndrome, was recorded in Colorado.
According to the CDC, the number of people infected by the bacteria must be much higher than reported. Furthermore, the center points out that the number of states may be higher, as some people may have recovered on their own or received medical care without being tested to prove contamination by the bacteria. Other people may also not have reported symptoms yet, as the average time to determine whether a sick person is within the outbreak is three to four weeks.
State and local public health officials are interviewing people about the foods they ate in the week before they developed symptoms. Of the 18 interviewed, all said they had eaten at McDonald’s, with 16 of them reporting having eaten a beef snack.
“Food safety is very important to me and everyone at McDonald’s,” reacted today in a video message to Joe Erlinger, president of the snack bar chain in the United States. “We have taken steps to proactively remove the sliced onions that are used in Quarterão in some states. We have also made the decision to temporarily remove Quarterão from restaurants in certain states,” he added.
Erlinger stressed that most states were not affected. According to the president of McDonald’s, even in the affected states, other products on the menu, including some with beef, continued to be available.
