McDonald’s CEO Issues Apology Over E. Coli Outbreak: ‘Very Sorry’ If People Got Sick

A sign outside a McDonald's restaurant in Pittsburgh on June 25, 2019. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

The CEO of McDonald’s apologized on Oct. 29 after an E. coli outbreak was linked to the popular fast food chain.

“We are certainly very sorry if someone got sick at our restaurant for eating an onion that we used on our [Quarter Pounder cheeseburger],” CEO Chris Kempczinski said on an earnings call. “On behalf of the entire system, we are sorry for what our customers have experienced. We offer our sincere and deepest sympathies, and we are committed to making this right.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated earlier in the month that McDonald’s Quarter Pounders were “making people sick.” The CDC stated that every person who became ill with E. coli, a bacterium that can cause stomach problems and in a small number of cases result in death, reported eating at McDonald’s before the illness began.

Some 75 cases, including 22 hospitalizations and one death, have been recorded during the outbreak, according to the CDC.

Testing of beef used in Quarter Pounders showed no E. coli, the company stated on Oct. 27.

Slivered onions used on the burgers have since been recalled, and McDonald’s has stopped using onions from Taylor Farms, which voluntarily recalled them.

“After the CDC first informed us of the investigation, we were able to quickly link the cases identified to slivered onions from one facility at our Taylor Farm supplier,” Kempczinski said in the Oct. 29 call. “We swiftly removed them from our supply chain. We understand from health authorities that slivered onions from Taylor Farm’s Colorado Springs facility are the likely source of contamination.

“I think we are now past this and on the road to getting back to serving our customers as we are used to doing.”

McDonald’s expects all of its restaurants to resume serving Quarter Pounders in the coming days.

The food chain was seeing positive momentum in the months leading up to the outbreak, which executives said was spurred in part by its $5 meal deal, which has been extended into December by many of the chain’s locations. That momentum was stopped by the outbreak. When it was first announced, McDonald’s started seeing a drop in daily sales and people coming in, according to company executives.

The company recorded an increase in U.S. sales overall of 0.3 percent in the third quarter.

Executives said McDonald’s is now looking to move forward, generate momentum, and restore people’s trust.

“And I think we’re really confident in our ability to do that,” Ian Frederick Borden, McDonald’s chief financial officer, said on the call.