(Bloomberg) -- McDonald’s Corp. supplier Taylor Farms is recalling some yellow onion batches produced in a Colorado facility in response to a deadly E. coli outbreak at the burger chain.
Taylor Farms, which supplied onions to the McDonald’s restaurants impacted by a multistate health investigation, said it hasn’t found traces of E. coli yet, but decided to pull the products “out of an abundance of caution.”
“Taylor Farms Colorado removed yellow onions from the market produced out of our Colorado facility. We continue to work closely with FDA and CDC during this ongoing investigation,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Major food distributors have also begun contacting customers.
US Foods Holding Corp. said Thursday that six of its distribution centers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and New Mexico were affected by the Taylor Farms recall, and that it has contacted impacted customers with instructions. US Foods, which said it’s not a McDonald’s distributor, has more than 70 warehouses across the country.
According to a recall notice to customers seen by Bloomberg News, US Foods listed several onion products among those that should stop being served, including peeled and diced options. One of the customers receiving the notice was Illegal Pete’s, a burrito chain with locations in Arizona and Colorado, the restaurant company said in an email.
Sysco Corp., which isn’t a McDonald’s supplier, told Bloomberg News that it has communicated with customers about the recall. About six of its more-than 330 distribution centers were impacted, which are in the US mountain region.
McDonald’s hasn’t yet confirmed the source of an outbreak that has led to dozens of illnesses, one death, and 10 hospitalizations across 10 states. On Wednesday, it said that slivered raw onions that go into its popular Quarter Pounder burger are the likely culprit of the contamination, though it hasn’t ruled out beef as a potential source. The burger chain pulled the Quarter Pounders from 20% of its more than 13,000 US restaurants in an effort to contain the outbreak.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are still investigating the incidents and said the numbers of illnesses could grow.
(Updates with US Foods statement.)
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