McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burger

A McDonald's Quarter Pounder with onions

(Image credit: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

published 25 October 2024

What happened

McDonald's was sued Thursday by a Colorado customer who became ill with E. coli after eating at the fast food chain, the first such lawsuit stemming from an outbreak that has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead. The E. coli was linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders, and U.S. health officials said this week that slivered onions on the burger were the "likely source of contamination."

Eric Stelly, the first plaintiff, experienced "gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, stomach cramps, nausea, and dehydration, as well as bloody stools" after eating at his local McDonald's on Oct. 4, according to his lawyer. His claim was the "first of what is expected to be multiple lawsuits over the E. coli outbreak," Fox Business said. Most of the reported illnesses have been in Colorado and Nebraska. A Nebraska woman, Clarissa DeBock, filed a second E. coli lawsuit against McDonald's, represented by the same lawyer.

McDonald's said Thursday that onions from Taylor Farms Colorado had been pulled from restaurants in the Mountain West, where sales of Quarter Pounders have also been halted. The Food and Drug Administration said Taylor Farms was the source of the potentially contaminated onions. Other fast food chains "were pulling fresh onions out of their menu items" on Thursday, including Burger King, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, Reuters said. Major food distributors Sysco and U.S. Food also notified customers of the onion recall.

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Stelly is seeking more than $50,000 in damages. Health officials and McDonald's have "not ruled out possible contamination of the quarter-pound beef patties used for the burger, a popular menu item," The New York Times said. But experts said while beef often used to be the culprit in E. coli outbreaks, safety changes following several high-profile outbreaks have made beef less likely to be the source.

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.