Federal Officials Report More Cases In McDonald’s E. Coli Outbreak, Suspect Washington State Onion Grower

The AP (10/30, Perrone) says that on Wednesday the FDA “reported more cases of E. coli poisoning among people who ate at McDonald’s, as government investigators seeking the outbreak’s source identified an ‘onion grower of interest’ in Washington state.” The FDA “said 90 people across 13 states have fallen ill in the outbreak, up from 75 at the end of last week. The number of people hospitalized increased by five, to 27 people. One death has been tied to the outbreak. ... The FDA said Wednesday it has begun inspecting Taylor Farm’s processing center in Colorado Springs as well as an ‘onion grower of interest’ in Washington state. It did not name the grower.” Reuters (10/30, Mariam Rajesh, Venugopal) says the outbreak “was first reported on Oct. 22, and slivered onions were suspected to be the source of the infections.” On Sunday, McDonald’s and the Colorado Department of Agriculture “ruled out the possibility of beef patties being a source of the outbreak.” Also reporting are NBC News (10/30, Lovelace) and CNN (10/30, McPhillips).