DENVER — A Greeley man has filed the first lawsuit in Colorado against McDonald's over the fast food giant's E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounder hamburgers that have so far sickened 49 people across 10 states and resulted in the death of a Mesa County resident.
Ron Simon & Associates, a national food safety law firm, along with Meyers & Flowers, LLC, filed the suit Wednesday, a day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Food Safety Alert warning of the "fast-moving" outbreak after dozens of people reported becoming sick after eating the McDonald's sandwich.
In the lawsuit, the Greeley man claims he ate at a McDonald's three weeks ago and started having symptoms of E.coli. He went to the hospital where he tested positive for the bacteria.
The lawsuit levels three charges against McDonald's: Product liability, negligence and breach of warranty, and seeks damages in excess of $50,000 for each count, according to court documents.
The CDC is expected to release an update on the E. coli outbreak Thursday. So far, 26 people have been sickened in Colorado — where the majority of the outbreak has been reported — with the additional 23 cases spread across 9 other states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Of the 26 Colorado cases, 18 have been reported in Mesa County, including the Colorado death linked to the E. coli outbreak. Cases have also been reported in Arapahoe, Chaffee, El Paso, Gunnison, Larimer, Routt, Teller, and Weld counties, according to the the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Health officials did not provide a list of Colorado McDonald's locations affected by the outbreak.
The identity of person who died has not yet been released, but state public health officials said the person was "older" with underlying conditions.
Those most at risk for becoming seriously ill or dying after contracting E. coli — like other serious illnesses — are senior citizens, pregnant women, young children and anyone with a compromised immune system.
E. coli symptoms typically appear three to four days after eating contaminated food and last up to a week, according to the CDC. While most strains are harmless and part of a person or animal's healthy intestinal tract, some strains can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), vomiting or a fever.
Most people typically recover without treatment after five to seven days.
If you recently ate a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder and are experiencing symptoms, you should contact your health care provider and local public health agency.
Food
CDPHE says additional E. coli cases 'are going to be coming in' amid outbreak
McDonald's working with USDA, FDA to investigate source of outbreak
Slivered, uncooked onions and quarter-pound beef patties — ingredients only used in the Quarter Pounder — are being investigated as the possible source of the outbreak, according to the CDC, but McDonald's is working with both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Drug Administration to investigate where the outbreak may have started.
During a media briefing Wednesday morning, a spokesperson with McDonald's told reporters they're looking at both ingredients because beef patties come from multiple suppliers, which would mean contamination came from multiple places, while slivered, uncooked onions come from a single facility, which would narrow their search down.
Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist with the CDPHE, told Denver7 later Wednesday she thinks the suspected ingredients were distributed to most, if not all, Colorado McDonald's, meaning there was risk of potential infection at every location.
"We want to make sure that the public understands that risk may have been present at all of McDonald's locations in Colorado," Dr. Herlihy said.
An expert of infectious diseases at UCHealth spoke with Denver7 about what you should know about E. coli in the video player below:
McDonald's has since pulled the Quarter Pounder from its menu in Colorado and other impacted states. Its other beef products, including the McDonald's Cheeseburger and Big Mac are not affected, a company spokesperson said.
Colorado-based Illegal Pete's also on Wednesday announced they were throwing out yellow onions after receiving word from US Foods of a national recall of on yellow onions purchased from food supplier US Foods.
"We take this very seriously and are following their recall instructions to the letter,” said a restaurant spokesperson in an email to Denver7, which also shared a communication letter sent to restaurant employees.
So far, the spokesperson said, no cases of E. coli have been linked to the chain.
Preliminary data from the FDA shared with our mother network, ABC News, indicated the now recalled raw onions as "a likely source of contamination" in the deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders.
This story was originally published by Katie Parkins at Scripps News Denver.
