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Foodborne illness outbreaks at well-known restaurant chains are rare, but they do happen. This week, an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states, with one person dying and 10 hospitalized. McDonald’s has stopped distributing chopped onions and temporarily removed the Quarter Pounder from menus in several states.
Here’s a brief history of some recent incidents that have upset customers, upset businesses, and sometimes changed the way food safety is regulated in America.
wendy
Wendy’s removed lettuce from sandwiches at its restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania in August 2022 after some people reported falling ill. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at the time that it was trying to determine whether romaine lettuce was the source of an E. coli outbreak that sickened at least 37 people and whether it could be used at Wendy’s. Vala romaine was also served or sold in other businesses. One person was also sick in Indiana, according to the CDC.
Chipotle
In 2015, Chipotle was hit by an E. coli outbreak that sickened more than 50 people and led to the temporary closure of dozens of restaurants on the West Coast, but that was just the beginning. A month later, 30 Boston College students, including at least eight members of the men’s basketball team, complained of gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle restaurant.
Federal officials declared the outbreak over by February 2016, but the chain closed all of its restaurants to retrain employees and allow them to regroup. However, by the end of the year, Chipotle co-CEO Montgomery Moran stepped down due to declining sales. In 2020, Chipotle Mexican Grill agreed to pay a record $25 million fine to settle criminal charges that it served contaminated food that sickened more than 1,100 people in the US between 2015 and 2018.
The company acknowledged that poor safety practices, such as not keeping food at the proper temperature to prevent the growth of pathogens, sickened customers in Los Angeles and nearby Simi Valley, as well as Boston, Sterling, Virginia, and Powell, Ohio. . Today, Chipotle is one of the top performing chain restaurants in the US with sales of nearly $10 billion last year.
Taco Bell
In December 2006, Taco Bell ordered the removal of green onions from 5,800 of its restaurants nationwide after a harsh strain of E. coli was found in samples taken by investigators. The outbreak sickened at least 71 people in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, according to the CDC, most of whom were hospitalized.
Eight people developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Ultimately, it was determined that contaminated lettuce was the likely cause, with the vegetable used in several dishes on the menu.
Almost immediately, Taco Bell launched a newspaper advertising campaign and sent its president to several media interviews to reassure customers that its food was safe. Taco Bell made a full recovery and grew sales 6% last year as the company opened more than 200 new locations.
Jack in the Box
Four deaths and more than 700 illnesses in Washington, Idaho, California, and Nevada between 1992 and 1993 were ultimately traced to Jack in the Box restaurant hamburgers contaminated with E. coli. Experts say the upcoming investigation by federal regulators has changed regulatory practices in the US.
A CDC investigation identified five slaughter plants in the US and one in Canada as potential sources of animals used in contaminated meat lots and identified potential control points to reduce the possibility of contamination. Animals killed at domestic slaughter plants were traced to farms and auctions in six western states. No slaughter plant or farm was identified as the source.
The US Department of Agriculture mandates a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system, which helps identify and control hazards within the food production system. This system provided greater surveillance and control to rapidly limit the spread of the outbreak. Jack in the Box lost more than $44 million in 1993 and had no annual profit for the next three years. The company has fully recovered and recorded sales of $1.7 billion last year, the third consecutive year of double-digit sales growth.
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