Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC recall onions after McDonald’s E.coli outbreak

Fast-food chains were pulling fresh onions from their menu items Thursday after the vegetable was named as the possible source of an E. coli outbreak at McDonald’s restaurants that has sickened 49 people and killed one.

Restaurant Brands International, parent of McDonald’s rival Burger King, and Yum Brands said they were removing spring onions from menu items. Approximately 5% of Burger King locations have removed onions from the menu, a Burger King spokesperson said in a statement.

McDonald’s said Thursday that Taylor Farms was the supplier of the cut onions that have been removed. Taylor Farms did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has recalled several batches of yellow onions produced at a Colorado facility, according to a recall memo Wednesday from US Foods, one of the largest U.S. suppliers of food service operations.

About 5% of Burger King stores also receive supplies from Taylor Farms, but a company spokesman said Burger King has not yet been contacted by health authorities or had any illnesses. Yum, which operates the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains, said it was removing the onions “out of an abundance of caution.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said late Wednesday that fresh onions were the likely source of the outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration said it is investigating all possible sources of the outbreak and has not determined the cause.

Previous E. coli outbreaks have hampered sales at major fast-food restaurants as customers avoid affected chains for fear of the disease. Regulators are still investigating whether McDonald’s beef patties may be contaminated, but E. coli is killed in beef when properly cooked, while McDonald’s Quarter Pounder is served with raw, chopped onions.

McDonald’s has recalled the Quarter Pounder from about a fifth of its US restaurants, including in Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, and parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

“We’ve been told by corporate not to use any onions for the foreseeable future,” Maria Gonzales, manager on duty inside a Burger King in Longmont, Colorado, said Wednesday. “They’re off our menu.”

McDonald’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

McDonald’s has moved quickly to try to contain the damage while trying to reassure customers for its efforts. That could be critical — previous blowouts in 2015 at Chipotle Mexican Grill and in 1993 at Jack in the Box caused sharp sales declines at those companies for several quarters.

David Tarantino, an analyst at Baird Equity Research, downgraded shares of McDonald’s to “neutral” late Wednesday. “We are concerned that reports of an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s restaurants in multiple states could pose a major threat to consumer sentiment” and thus hurt US comparable store sales, he said.