Regarding the ongoing investigation of the Escherichia coli outbreak linked to onions served at certain McDonald’s locations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently shared that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is unable to implicate a grower at this time.

Although a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado was confirmed as the supplier of the onions to McDonald’s, and FDA was investigating an onion grower of interest in Washington state, FDA has been unable to definitively implicate a grower.  

According to the latest information from CDC, 90 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 13 states in the U.S. West and Midwest. Of 83 people with information available, 27 have been hospitalized, two people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and one person has died (not one of the patients who developed HUS).

Taylor Farms has recalled the implicated onions and McDonald’s—as well as other restaurant chains supplied by Taylor Farms—removed fresh onions from their menus at affected locations.