McDonald's to invest $100 million in effort to rebuild customer trust after E. coli outbreak

McDonald's is investing $100 million to bring customers back to stores after an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning tied to onions on the fast-food giant's Quarter Pounder hamburgers, according to a detailed report by the Associated Press.

The investments include $65 million that will go directly to the hardest-hit franchises, the company said, the Associated Press report explained further.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that slivered onions on the Quarter Pounders were the likely source of the E. coli. Taylor Farms in California recalled onions potentially linked to the outbreak.

What is the E. Coli infection?

E. coli is a group of bacteria that can cause infections in your gut (GI tract), urinary tract and other parts of your body. Most of the time, it can live in the gut without hurting. But some strains can make humans sick with watery diarrhoea, vomiting and fever. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) is most likely to cause severe illness.

An E. coli infection is any illness one gets from strains of E. coli bacteria. For example, there are harmful strains of E. coli that cause watery diarrhoea, stomach pain and other digestive symptoms if accidentally ingested. These are sometimes called diarrheagenic, E. coli, and they’re often what people mean when they talk about E. coli infections as explained on the Cleveland Clinic website.

Further, the E. coli that usually live in a person’s gut can also get in places they’re not supposed to be like the urinary tract. This causes an E. coli infection to spread. Many strains of E. coli cause mild infections. But some strains, like those that produce Shiga toxin, can cause serious illness, including kidney damage.

Where were the most cases reported?

The Associated Press report further detailed that, Colorado reported at least 30 cases; Montana reported 19; Nebraska, 13; and New Mexico, 10. The illnesses were reported between September 12 and Oct. 21. At least 104 people got sick and 34 were hospitalized, according to federal health officials.

The Food and Drug Administration has said that “there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak at McDonald’s restaurants.”

It is still important to note that the outbreak hurt the company's sales. Quarter Pounders were removed from menus in several states in the early days of the outbreak. McDonald’s identified an alternate supplier for the 900 restaurants that temporarily stopped serving the burgers with onions. Over the past week, McDonald's resumed selling Quarter Pounders with slivered onions nationwide.

Global investors, and health officials in the US will all follow these developments carefully to ensure that the disease is contained and no one else suffers due to the same.