COLORADO, USA — A food service supplier has issued a recall for onions from a Colorado Springs Taylor Farms facility due to possible E. coli contamination, according to a letter provided to 9NEWS by the restaurant chain Illegal Pete's.
The move by US Foods comes after an outbreak of E. coli that has sickened dozens of people and is blamed for the death of one person in Mesa County. According to health officials, it has been linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders. The outbreak's exact source is unknown, but the focus has been on slivered onions and the beef patties specifically used by the chain for those burgers.
McDonald's has stopped serving the burgers.
The letter sent on Wednesday from US Food urged its customers, including Illegal Pete's to immediately stop using the affected products.
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It indicated that the products included were yellow onions from Taylor Farms that were either whole or diced. The recalled onions came from a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado, a U.S. Foods spokesperson said. In an email, the Colorado Department of Agriculture told 9NEWS Friday that "Taylor Farms operations in Colorado related to onions are limited to processing and do not include growing."
In a statement, Illegal Pete's said they're taking the issue seriously and are following all of the instructions in the letter.
They also noted that they don't use a diced/ sliced white onion product that has been identified as a possible source of E. coli. The company said Taylor Farms issued a blanket recall from a certain lots.
The Centers for Disease Control said as of Tuesday that 49 people in 10 states have gotten sick, including 26 illnesses and one death in Colorado. Nine people have been sickened in Nebraska.
At least 10 of Colorado's cases were reported in Mesa County in western Colorado, according to the county health department spokeswoman.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said the 26 people who have gotten sick in Colorado live in nine counties: Arapahoe, Chaffee, El Paso, Gunnison, Larimer, Mesa, Routt, Teller and Weld. They did not necessarily eat at McDonald's locations in the counties where they live, the health department said.
The CDC said 10 people across the affected states have been hospitalized. The outbreak also includes a child hospitalized with severe kidney complications.
Everyone interviewed said they ate at McDonald's before getting sick and specifically mentioned eating a Quarter Pounder hamburger, according to the CDC. The agency said infections were reported between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11.
