McDonald's Competitors Pull Onions From Menu After Deadly E. Coli Outbreak

Earlier this week, foodies across America were rocked by the news of a mass E. coli outbreak linked to the fast food giant McDonald's. Customers across 10 states fell ill after eating the chain's famous Quarter Pounder burgers, and on October 23, 2024, the USDA reported that raw, slivered onions were identified as the culprit. Other burgers in McDonalds' oeuvre use diced onions, not the fresh sliced onions unique to the Quarter Pounder line.

Now, other major players on the fast food scene are pulling onions from their menus as the FDA investigation continues. Select Burger King locations, owned by Restaurant Brands International, have pulled fresh onions from the menu. Yum Brands, parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, has also pulled onions from store menus "out of an abundance of caution," per the International Business Times. The contamination has been traced to Taylor Farms, the onion supplier whose Colorado facility was identified as the source of the E. coli.

In fact, 29 of the 49 reported illnesses in connection to this outbreak happened in Colorado. Taylor Farms, the company behind some of the absolute best salad kits in our ranking, has since issued a voluntary recall of its yellow onions, with whole, peeled onions as well as diced onions both being recalled. But Taylor Farms isn't a McDonald's-exclusive supplier, meaning the contaminated onions were potentially shipped to other sources, as well. Taylor Farms supplied onions to an estimated 20% of U.S. McDonald's locations, and at these locations, Quarter Pounders have been temporarily pulled from the menu.

Times are tough for onion-lovers — and indeed for American consumers at large who don't want to feel nervous about the safety of the food they're eating. With the infamous Chipotle E. coli outbreak of 2015 not yet dead in consumers' minds and the E. coli outbreak that hit Wendy's in 2022 even closer behind, stockholders look to the future of the Golden Arches with some trepidation. "We are concerned that reports of an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald's restaurants in multiple U.S. states could pose a major threat to consumer sentiment," comments Baird Equity Research analyst David Tarantino (via Reuters). In the early days post-outbreak, some consumers are avoiding the chain's burgers, opting for chicken nuggets instead, while others are avoiding McDonald's altogether, reports the outlet. 

Avoiding reputational damage is likely a strong motivator behind other fast food competitors' abundance of caution in pulling onions from the menu, as consumers reel from an E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 49, hospitalized 10, and killed one. Taylor Farms, based in Salinas, California, has already embarked on some brand-saving damage control. In addition to the voluntary recall, the company released a public statement on October 24 (via Food Safety News), sharing "We have never seen E. coliO157:H7 associated with onions in the past." Taylor Farms says it is "work[ing] closely with [the] FDA and CDC during this ongoing investigation."