Fast food giant McDonald’s continues to deal with the fallout from a recent outbreak of a fecal parasite in its salads in as many as ten states. As of this past weekend, 163 people had been sickened by the tainted lettuce.
Though few people expect McDonald’s salads to be “healthy”— the chain was widely criticized in Canada in 2016 after it was reported that their kale salad had more calories and sodium than a Big Mac — it is struggling to get the cyclospora outbreak, which began in early May, under control. While it has already halted sales of salads at 3,000 locations, the infection can take a week to cause symptoms in humans. Those symptoms include diarrhea, loss of appetite, cramping, nausea, and fatigue.
USA Today noted that infections that began after June 7 may not have been reported yet due to the lag time between an individual falling ill and their decision to report it, especially considering it can take up to six weeks for the cyclospora parasite to be identified.
The parasite is non-fatal, but its presence in McDonald’s salads nevertheless reflects poorly on the brand’s attempt to offer cleaner options to its customers. As expected, the company has taken as many precautions as possible to prevent further spread of the parasite.
"We have removed lettuce blend provided by Fresh Express’ Streamwood, Illinois, facility," company said in a statement Friday. "Many restaurants already have a new lettuce blend supply, while we expect all identified restaurants will have new supply in the next few days."
Fresh Express, the supplier McDonald’s has now dropped, says no cause of the contamination has been identified and has denied any definitive responsibility.
Martin Bucknavage, a food expert at Pennsylvania State University, told USA Today it likely started with a water source."Some water had to become contaminated and then used to irrigate the crops that become salad. These spores get into the water and survive for long periods of time. It could some from someplace upstream,” he said.
The cyclospora parasite also sickened around 200 people who consumed Del Monte produce earlier this month, and the McDonald’s outbreak has so far affected consumers in states including Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and West Virginia.
The problem of foodborne illness is not unique to the United States. Last year, undercover BBC investigations found bacteria in the ice at restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, and Starbucks.
Though fast food chains hardly have a reputation for health food, the recent parasitic outbreak at McDonald’s provides yet another reason to consider other options.
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@careywedler hello 👋 sir OMG It is very sad, such a bad event happened in a company's salad, and 163 people became sick due to the salad, which means that now it is very bad news for McDonald's salads, to stop McDonald's salads in many places. It would be better to stop it now, because if there is such an incident in the present day eating salads then government should take a good step on this matter. Do you think?
Not the government, they would manage to screw that up to. More like proper education on hygiene techniques and better oversight on the suppliers and their techniques. We'll never fully stop outbreaks like this, micro-organisms were here before us and will be long after us.
Shame it was only the salads otherwise I could have used "Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase McShitburger !".
How do people actually eat this crap ?
Hi, can I order a McSubstandard burger that looks nothing like the advertising, with a large McHeartburn and a supersized McHeadache for later ? Thanks !! (for making me sick)
Very Good.. I like this.. Thank you..!
I doubt that it care from a contaminated water supply. Sure, it's possible, but I think you'd probably know your water supply was questionable enough that you really should get a water tower or something, so you can do some basic control, like chlorination, or even just a sand filter and solar heating. You run the water into a big black pipe, then empty it when it reaches high enough to kill most bacteria, and you're as good as if you boiled it.
I think it's far more likely that they used "fertilizer" before harvest, without composting it first. I also think it's likely they didn't wash it properly.
I think it's likely that there was no oversight into the operations of whatever farm the lettuce came from. They probably bought it from some random farm with a dirty operation that contaminated the lettuce due to simple stupidity.
Of course, we won't find out likely, because I doubt that they'd be honest if there was incompetence, and I doubt there will be a proper investigation.
omg :( and I used to love Mc Donald's Salads :(
In the last few years, this type of health problems in relation to the consumption of contaminated food is very frequent, it is important to increase sanitary controls every day to protect against these diseases or to implement millionaire fines so that these chains take seriously the importance of lives of the people who come to their restaurant
Historically, I believe fast food is not good for health. because a healthy food is food that is processed without the retention process for too long. How about you?
Hi @careywedler... Nice image and topic like it
You're never going to get away from bacteria in food. It goes back to the producers and how they process the products. Also helps to have good hygiene when preparing the food as well.
Don't go attacking the final user as the sole reasoning behind something like this, nor the type of food itself. Shit happens, in this case, literally.