One dead and dozens of sick people. This is the high number of victims of an infection by the Escherichia coli bacteria in the United States that affected customers of the restaurant giant McDonald’s.
According to a communication from the US health authorities on Tuesday, October 22, the majority of infected people were in Colorado and Nebraska, but ten other states in the western United States are affected. In total, 49 people were infected with the same strain of bacteria. Ten required hospitalization and one elderly man died in Colorado.
All of those surveyed said they ate at McDonald’s before getting sick, and most mentioned eating a specific burger, the “quarter pounder,” called “royal cheese” in France.
A potentially deadly bacteria
The E. coli bacteria is a bacteria contained “in the digestive tract of humans and warm-blooded animals,” indicates the Pasteur Institute. “If most Escherichia coli strains are harmless, some are pathogenic, such as the O157:H7 strain implicated in McDonald’s,” Professor Éric Oswald, deputy director of the Digestive Health Research Institute, explains to BFMTV.com. to Inserm.
Once ingested, the bacteria can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which causes stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting, usually lasting three to four days. Most patients recover without treatment, but certain at-risk people may develop complications, particularly children.
Present in fecal matter, the bacteria mainly contaminates animal products, but can also be deposited on plants. “It is less classic, but it is possible. In the case of Buitoni’s Fraich’up pizzas, the current hypothesis is flour contamination,” recalls Éric Oswald.
Contamination can take place “in the slaughterhouse (skinning or gutting of animals) to obtain meat, or on farms at the time of milking to obtain milk (…) In the case of plants, contamination can result from the dispersion of manure or effluents from contaminated ruminant farming in the soil where they are grown, or by the use of contaminated irrigation water,” details ANSES.
The transmission of E.Coli through contact with human fecal matter is also possible, adds Professor Éric Oswald, who reminds us of basic advice: wash your hands.
The onion at the center of suspicion
As for the McDonald’s case, the exact ingredient involved has not been identified, but hamburger steaks or onions have been removed from restaurants in the affected states while an investigation is underway.
The doubts center especially on the onions, which are served raw in the “Quarter Pounder” sandwich. However, “only cooking can guarantee that food is not contaminated,” emphasizes Éric Oswald.
According to a McDonald’s spokesperson to NBC News, the onions in question come from a single facility, where they are sliced and packaged raw in individual bags that are shipped to restaurants.
“It is possible that the contamination occurred during the cutting of the onions. This occurs when a raw material is prepared in large quantities before being subsequently distributed,” says Professor Éric Oswald.
As for the hamburger steaks, McDonald’s indicates on its site that they are cooked “to 69°C in the center.” Precisely to “guarantee pleasure and safety for all”, depending on the channel.
The French branch of McDonald’s has not officially reacted to the matter. French consumers, a priori, have nothing to worry about in this specific case of pollution. McDonald’s France indicates that it sources its meat from France, Ireland and the Netherlands, while its onions are French.
Source: BFM TV