The multi-state E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions on McDonald’s Quarter Pounders is officially over, according to officials.

Both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the complete of the multi-agency investigation into the outbreak on Tuesday, saying a total of 104 patients across 14 states became ill, resulting in 34 hospitalizations and one death.

First reported on Oct. 22, testing determined the outbreak was linked not to the meat in the burgers, but the raw slivered onions on top, which are distinctive to the Quarter Pounder.

McDonald’s previously told USA TODAY that Taylor Farms had supplied onions to McDonald’s in the areas impacted by E. coli illnesses, and US Foods, to whom Taylor Farms is a third-event supplier, issued a recall on raw diced, peeled, and whole peeled onions produced by the business on Oct. 22. However, the recalled Taylor Farms Colorado onions were not related to the business’s removal of Quarter Pounders, the business said.

McDonald’s has since “identified an alternate supplier for the approximately 900 restaurants that had temporarily stopped serving Quarter Pounder burgers with slivered onions,” according to its website and information given by a business representative in a Tuesday press briefing.

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“The procedure to reach this point has at times felt long, challenging and doubtful,” McDonald’s North America Chief Impact Officer Michael Gonda and Chief Supply Chain Officer Cesar Piña said in a press statement. “But it is critical that community officials examine every feasible angle, and we are deeply grateful that they moved quickly to identify and, in collaboration with McDonald’s, contain the issue. We’d like to thank them once again.”

What states were impacted by the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak?

In total, 14 states were impacted by the outbreak with one death occurring in Colorado, according to the CDC. These included:

• Colorado (30 known cases of illness)
• Iowa (1)
• Kansas (3)
• Michigan (2)
• Missouri (8)
• Montana (19)
• Nebraska (13)
• recent Mexico (10)
• North Carolina (1)
• Oregon (1)
• Utah (8)
• Washington (1)
• Wisconsin (1)
• Wyoming (6)

Is it secure to eat McDonald’s?

Both the CDC and FDA have said that the outbreak no longer poses a uncertainty to the community. In Tuesday’s announcement, the FDA said “McDonald’s is no longer serving recalled onions, and there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak.”

The CDC likewise said that there is no apparent continued uncertainty related to the outbreak.

“Federal and state officials have repeatedly said that our immediate actions in October made any uncertainty to the community ‘very low,’ and the uncertainty has remained very low since then,” McDonald’s announced both on its website and in a press briefing. It also said that no illnesses were associated with McDonald’s food by the CDC after it took “swift and decisive action on October 22, 2024” to pull potentially affected items.

Food industry consultant Bryan Quoc Le previously told USA TODAY in October that beyond the Quarter Pounder, “there shouldn’t be any concern in terms of eating” other McDonald’s products, even when the outbreak was recent. “McDonald’s is fairly excellent about their logistics and distribution and so they’re able to recall a lot of their products fairly quickly,” he said, adding that he may avoid the Quarter Pounder for “a couple of days.”

At the same period, food safety attorney statement Marler said that proper cleaning and sanitizing would be paramount to McDonald’s ability to mitigate the outbreak and ensure food preparation surfaces were not contaminated.

The business confirmed on a press briefing that it was investing $100 million into recouping losses that resulted from the outbreak and winning back customers, using the massive monetary schedule on marketing materials and assistance for franchise owners whose sales suffered.