Taylor Farms Produced Slivered Onions, the Likely Source of the Deadly Outbreak
Investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found dozens of food safety violations during their inspection of the Taylor Farms facility in Colorado Springs that produced slivered onions, the likely source of a deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders.
Taylor Farms, based in Salinas, CA, issued a recall for onions produced at its Colorado facility on October 24, 2024.
E. coli Outbreak Linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders
The outbreak, announced in October 2024, ended in December with 104 illnesses and one death. At least 34 people were hospitalized, four of them with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening complication of E. coli infections that causes kidney failure.
The patients, who ranged in age from 1 to 88 years old, lived in 14 states -Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The FDA inspection forms, obtained by CBS News through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, reveal that the FDA found dozens of food safety violations during its inspection of the plant that took place from October 28, 2024, to November 12, 2024. They include:
- Biofilm and food debris on food-contact equipment.
- Ready-To-Eat (RTE) produce products are exposed to the environment prior to packaging and do not undergo a lethal treatment step for pathogens.
- Damaged and poorly maintained equipment.
- Chemicals used to sanitize equipment get on food because equipment/utensils are not allowed to air dry.
- Production employees handling RTE produce and food-contact surfaces were not observed using any handwashing sinks in the facility.
- A glove employee touching food-contact surfaces after touching unsanitary surfaces such as a hose on the floor.
- Poor recordkeeping.
Experienced E. coli Lawyers
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