A Quarter Pounder hamburger is served at a McDonald's restaurant. Photo: SCOTT OLSON / AFP
By Ananya Mariam Rajesh, Reuters
McDonald's has scrambled to contain the damage from an E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounder burgers that has killed one person and sickened nearly 50 others, as it pulled the menu item from restaurants across a dozen American states.
The outbreak has sickened people across the US West and Midwest, with 10 hospitalised due to serious complications, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is investigating the outbreak.
"We fully expect to see more cases," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said. "McDonald's has moved rather quickly to take action to, hopefully, prevent as many cases as possible."
Previous E. coli outbreaks at big US fast-food chains have caused consumers to shun those chains for months. McDonald's USA President Joe Erlinger said the fast-food chain needs to rebuild trust with the public after it pulled the item off its menu at a fifth of its 14,000 US restaurants.
The CDC and McDonald's are scrutinising the company's supplies of slivered onions and beef patties as they try to determine the cause of the outbreak, the company said.
The company's stock was down 4.9 percent at US$299.42 (NZ$498.49) in trading as spokespeople added that it had not yet ruled out the possibility of beef being part of the outbreak. Shares earlier hit a low of US$290.88 (NZ$484.27).
The E. coli O157:H7 strain that led to the McDonald's outbreak is the same as a strain linked to a 1993 incident at Jack in the Box that killed four children. It can cause "very serious disease," especially for the elderly, children and people who are immunocompromised, said Shari Shea, director of food safety at the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
McDonald's suppliers test their products frequently and did so in the date range the CDC gave for the outbreak, and none of them identified this E. coli strain, company spokespeople said.
"The worst-case scenario is if more people get sick or multiple ingredients or suppliers are impacted, which could be a longer-lasting issue that could also tarnish the brand," CFRA Research analyst Arun Sundaram said.
Erlinger pointed to the Chicago-based company's steps to quickly pull the Quarter Pounder from its menu in the areas where the outbreak occurred during an appearance on NBC's Today show.
"Given the recent events of the past 24 hours, our priority is to reinforce the confidence of American consumers," he said.
The company pulled the Quarter Pounder from 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.
In the past, two notable E. coli outbreaks - at Chipotle Mexican Grill in 2015 and Jack in the Box in 1993 - significantly hurt sales at those chains.
Chipotle took a year-and-a-half to stabilise, while Jack in the Box sales declined for four straight quarters, Raymond James analyst Brian Vaccaro said.
Chipotle shares fell nearly 50 percent during the 2015-2018 period when cases of norovirus infections were reported after the E. coli outbreak.
Analysts said McDonald's fourth-quarter sales could experience some pressure from the outbreak, but it is too early to say whether it would be worse than the previous two E. coli cases.
The company's move to quickly identify the likely source of the outbreak and replenish supplies should fix the problem, JP Morgan analysts said in a note.
-Reuters