Scores of consumers fell ill from E. coli infections linked to Quarter Pounders and salads sold across several chains of McDonald’s in the United States, and the company is being sued. The outbreak in September 2024 led to the recall of both items from over 3,000 restaurants in four states. The lawsuit maintains that McDonald’s was not taking enough care to ensure the safety of their ingredients and, as such, the contamination that kept dozens ill was possible.

E. coli outbreaks are common in fast-food restaurants when contaminated food or its ingredients are introduced somewhere along the supply chain mainly due to improper handling, storage, and preparation practices. Given this scenario, it is expected that E. coli can be present in undercooked or otherwise contaminated meat, particularly the ground beef used in most fast food burgers. The juices of raw meat lead to cross-contamination when such juices come in contact with ready-to-eat foods, surfaces, or utensils. Poor safety practices concerning hygiene behavior in food chains contribute to outbreaks. These practices range from poor manners of not washing hands enough, poor storage of controls on temperature, and poor cooking of foods to a high internal temperature that will avoid the E. coli bacteria. If the consumers consume bad food, contaminated with bacteria it may give them serious food poisoning. Moreover, fast-food restaurants are highly susceptible to outbreaks because they make so many foods in bulk and move ingredients through the system at an incredibly fast pace. Rare slip-ups and anomalies from food safety tests can prove disastrous.