FDA finds little hand washing and dirty equipment at McDonald’s suppliers linked to E. coli outbreak

Food and Drug Administration officials reveal dozens of violations at McDonald’s suppliers linked to deadly outbreak coli It led to more than 100 infected people And then there was a complete recall of onions used in the fast food chain’s products, including the Quarter Pounder burger.

The violations, detailed in an inspection report released to CBS News in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, were identified during an inspection of a Colorado food production facility operated by Taylor Farms.

Their findings amount to the FDA issuing a so-called Form 483 to McDonald’s suppliers, a list of citations for conditions that inspectors feared could be “injurious to health.”

This facility was tasked with supplying “sliced ​​onions” to McDonald’s stores across a wide range of states. Taylor Farms also produces many other products, including salads, which are sold in grocery stores as safe and ready-to-eat.

Taylor Farms promotes its products as a “no-cook kitchen solution” for restaurants, which means food service workers can use the regular cooking methods required for regular produce that must be washed and cut before eating. You can skip the cooking steps.

“We hold our suppliers to the highest expectations and standards for food safety,” McDonald’s said in a statement. We have stopped procurement from the facility.”

The company announced in October after the outbreak that it would “indefinitely” stop purchasing onions from Colorado’s Taylor Farms and redirect supplies to about 900 restaurants that relied on the plant. Then he pointed out.

“Taylor Farms is confident in our best-in-class food safety processes and, in turn, in the quality and safety of our products. “We have issued an opinion regarding the possible condition,” Taylor Farms said in a statement.

In a statement, the company said it had “taken immediate steps to address” the issue, adding that the FDA had classified the inspection as not leading to “administrative or regulatory action” against the company.

“This is consistent with the fact that there is no disease or public health threat associated with these observations,” Taylor Farms said.

Taylor Farms ultimately recalled thousands of cases of instant onions it had distributed to food service establishments in six states after the outbreak.

At least 104 E. coli infections have been linked to the outbreak, including 34 hospitalizations and one death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It should have been marked as ‘failed.'”

FDA inspectors found that even though employees were supposed to have completed the required cleaning procedures, they found “many buildings with apparent biofilm and large amounts of food debris” around the Taylor Farms facility in Colorado Springs. He said he had discovered “equipment.”

The FDA announced that Taylor Farms’ quality control staff certified the facility’s cleanliness as passing, but that agency inspectors said it was “not visibly clean and should be marked as ‘failing.’ This was despite the fact that several food contact surfaces were observed. ”

Food debris accumulating on the company’s equipment was so severe that FDA inspectors were concerned that it was causing cross-contamination. A company that purchased peppers from Taylor Farms complained that their ready-to-eat products contained onions.

FDA inspectors also alleged that the workers were also lax in their own sanitary procedures.

Staff at McDonald’s suppliers only “occasionally” used hand sanitiser when handling ready-to-eat food, or “RTE” as the industry calls it, with gloved hands.

“No production employees working with RTE produce or food contact surfaces were observed using handwashing sinks in the facility,” FDA inspectors wrote.

“The equipment is always wet”

FDA inspectors also found that Taylor Farms frequently skipped the drying step after soaking equipment in solutions of disinfectant chemicals, which inspectors said were ready to eat. There were concerns that the chemicals would be “directly applied” to agricultural products.

“Due to the humid processing environment and low temperatures, the equipment is constantly wet,” the agency’s inspectors wrote.

The FDA said instructions from cleaning solution manufacturers ask users to air-dry sterilized equipment.

FDA officials were also concerned about how staff were preparing the cleaning chemical mixtures they were using.

Some solutions tested above the maximum concentrations of chemicals allowed, but the company wondered how it came up with the recipe for the different cleaning products it was using, FDA inspectors asked. It was unclear whether

“Management failed to provide a manufacturer label and/or manufacturer/chemical representative claiming that these chemical mixtures listed above were designed for this use,” inspectors said. said.

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Alexander Ting

Alexander Ting is a digital reporter for CBS News based in the Washington, D.C., bureau. He is covering the Biden administration’s public health agencies, including the federal government’s response to infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19.