Investing.com -- Shares in McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) slumped in premarket US trading on Tuesday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said E. coli infections linked to the burger giant's "Quarter Pounder" offering had led to 49 cases, 10 hospitalizations and one death.
Officials said the outbreak, which involved one of the most popular items on McDonald's menu, had impacted people in 10 US states, led by Colorado, where 26 people fell ill.
According to the CDC, every one of the people interviewed in its investigation into the outbreak said they had eaten at McDonald's prior to becoming sick. Most also reported eating the Quarter Pounder hamburger, the CDC noted, although the specific ingredient behind the illness has yet to be identified.
In a statement, McDonald's North America Chief Supply Chain Officer Cesar Piña said the company is taking "swift and decisive action" to address the outbreak. Piña said the initial findings from the CDC investigation indicate that "a subset of illnesses may be linked to slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier that serves three distribution centers."
"As a result, and in line with our safety protocols, all local restaurants have been instructed to remove this product from their supply and we have paused the distribution of all slivered onions in the impacted area," Piña said.
McDonald's said it is temporarily removing the Quarter Pounder from restaurants in Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, as well as portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
The particular strain of the infections, E. coli 0157:H7, can cause serious sickness and was cited as the source of a deadly outbreak involving undercooked Jack in the Box (NASDAQ:JACK) hamburgers in 1993.
Writing in a note to clients, analysts at KeyBanc said the outbreak also invites comparisons to an incident in 2015 involving E. coli infections, salmonella poisoning, and stomach flu cases in people who ate at burrito chain Chipotle (NYSE:CMG).
"But to assume that McDonald’s is likely to face a similar outcome to either of these instances might be too extreme of a bear case," the analysts said. "While rare, food safety incidents are an inherent risk for any operator, regardless of its size."
Analysts at BMO (TSX:BMO) Capital Markets added the timing of the outbreak is "unfortunate" for McDonald's as it comes at a time when US comparative sales had "begun to accelerate and shares had become well-owned."
(Yasin Ebrahim contributed reporting.)