The U.S. government said Tuesday it has closed its investigation into an tied to McDonald'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 34 who were hospitalized, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. One person in Colorado died 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 McDonald鈥檚 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鈥檛 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.
鈥淢cDonald鈥檚 is no longer serving recalled onions and there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak,鈥� 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, McDonald's said it planned to to bring customers back to stores, including $65 million that will go directly to the hardest-hit franchisees.
Dee-ann Durbin And Jonel Aleccia, The Associated Press
