McDonald’s melee on Wednesday Prevent damage caused by E. coli outbreaks The issue linked to the Quarter Pounder burger that has killed one person and sickened nearly 50 others has prompted the removal of the menu item from restaurants in a dozen states.
The outbreak has sickened people across the US West and Midwest, with 10 people hospitalized with serious complications, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is investigating the outbreak. Used to be.
A McDonald’s spokesperson said the outbreak was limited to the United States.
“We fully expect to see more cases,” CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said. “McDonald’s has hopefully taken swift action to prevent as many cases as possible.”
Previous E. coli outbreaks at major US fast-food chains led consumers to stay away from those chains for months.
Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, said Wednesday that the fast-food chain needs to rebuild trust with the public. It removed the item from its menu Ranked fifth among its 14,000 US restaurants.
The company withdrew the Quarter Pounder. Its menu at McDonald’s locations in Colorado, Kansas, Utah, and Wyoming, and in parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
The CDC and McDonald’s are investigating the Chicago-based company’s supply of chopped onions and beef patties as they try to determine the cause of the outbreak, the company said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said late Wednesday that used onions were the likely source of the illness, although one of its state partners is testing beef samples for E. coli.
The company’s shares closed 5.1% lower at $298.57 on Wednesday. Shares hit an intraday low of $290.88.
‘Very serious illness’
The E. coli O157:H7 strain that caused the McDonald’s outbreak is similar to the strain associated with the 1993 Jack in the Box incident that killed four children.
It can cause “very serious illness,” especially for the elderly, children and people with weakened immune systems, said Shari Shea, director of food safety at the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
McDonald’s suppliers frequently test their products and do so in the date range given by the CDC for outbreaks, and none of them have identified this E. coli strain, company spokespeople said.
American food safety lawyer Bill Marler, who represented a victim in the Jack in the Box outbreak, said it was a relatively large and serious outbreak for which McDonald’s would face “very high” liability for contamination.
“We’re still in the early stages of how McDonald’s will handle this,” he said. “But taking out the supplier of the onions – if they believe that’s the source of it – is going to be really important.”
Marler said that in the 1990s, he dealt almost exclusively with lawsuits involving contaminated beef, but in recent years E. coli outbreaks have been almost entirely caused by irrigation or flooding with feces from nearby cattle. The medium has been limited to contaminated production. E. coli is a natural pathogen in the intestines of cows.
Jim Lewis, who was a franchisee in New York City for more than 30 years before exiting the system in 2019, said that when E. coli became a major concern decades ago, McDonald’s stepped up security for its beef supply chain. Was adamant about.
“They were at the top of their game to make sure that would never happen,” he said.
He said McDonald’s has historically been “the safest, strongest food chain in the world.” Therefore it is intrinsically destructive for us.
Analysts flagged the outbreak as a potential black eye on McDonald’s earnings.
“The worst-case scenario is if more people fall ill or multiple ingredients or suppliers are affected, that could be a long-term issue that could also tarnish the brand,” said CFRA Research analyst Arun Sundaram. “
During an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday, McDonald’s USA chief Erlinger pointed to the company’s steps to immediately remove the Quarter Pounder from its menus in areas where the outbreak occurred.
“Given the recent events of the past 24 hours, our priority is to strengthen American consumer confidence,” he said.
In the past, two notable E. coli outbreaks – at Chipotle Mexican Grill in 2015 and Jack in the Box in 1993 – significantly hurt those chains’ sales.
Raymond James analyst Brian Vaccaro said Chipotle took a year and a half to stabilize, while Jack in the Box saw four consecutive quarters of sales decline.
Chipotle’s shares fell nearly 50% during the 2015-2018 period when cases of norovirus infection were reported following an outbreak of E. coli.
Analysts said McDonald’s fourth-quarter sales may experience some pressure from the outbreak, but it was too early to say whether it would be worse than the previous two E. coli cases.
