An Associated Press story on the National Public Radio website said McDonald’s was trying to reassure customers that its food was safe despite a deadly E.coli outbreak linked to its Quarter Pounder hamburgers.
At the time of this writing, at least 49 people in 10 states had been sickened, and one person had died.
SOURCING THE CONTAMINATION
Escherichia coli, or E.coli, is one of many groups of bacteria that live in the intestines of healthy humans and most warm-blooded animals, said the Johns Hopkins Medicine website. They help maintain the balance of normal intestinal flora (bacteria) against harmful bacteria and synthesize or produce some vitamins.
There are hundreds of types, or strains of E.coli, all with their distinguishing characteristics, the Johns Hopkins website said. A particular strain, known as E.coli O147:H7, causes sever intestinal infection in humans and is the most common strain to cause illness in people by producing a toxin that damages the lining of the intestinal wall.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about 70,000 cases of E.coli O157:H7 occur in the US each year, the Johns Hopkins website said.
Infection with E.coli usually occurs after eating contaminated food, and often is linked to undercooked ground beef, although there have been cases where contaminated lettuce was to blame. The lettuce was contaminated by manure used as fertilizer.
In the McDonald’s case, contaminated slivered onions are implicated along with undercooked ground beef. Apparently, the jury is still out, but the AP story said a preliminary investigation by the US Food and Drug Administration suggested the fresh onions served on the Quarter Pounder were a likely source of contamination.
WIDESPREAD CONTAMINATION
The AP story referred to the CDC and said infections were reported between Sep. 27 and Oct. 11 in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. One person in Colorado died, and 10 had been hospitalized.
McDonalds was quoted in the AP story saying the investigation had been hampered by the scope of the problem. The company said it serves about 1 million Quarter Pounders in the affected areas every two weeks.
McDonald’s told the AP that it has extensive food safety practices in place, adding that nothing in the investigation had indicated an issue with its food preparation.
It’s possible the affected product has already worked its way through the McDonald’s supply chain, according to company US president Joe Erlinger in the AP story.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $187.95 per cwt to $188.82, compared with last week’s range of $187.00 to $189.35 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $293.66 per cwt to $297.66, compared with $292.16 to $298.16.
The USDA choice cutout Wednesday was down $2.55 per cwt at $321.41 while select was up $0.97 at $295.77. The choice/select spread narrowed to $25.64 from $29.16 with 110 loads of fabricated product and 26 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA-listed weighted average wholesale price for fresh 90% lean beef was $350.57 per cwt, and 50% beef was $62.55.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.25 to $1.40 a bushel over the Dec corn contract and in Kansas at $0.25 over Dec, which settled at $4.19 a bushel, up $0.02 1/2.
No cattle contracts were tendered for delivery Wednesday against the Oct contract. Two steer contracts were retendered at one and demanded at one.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Tuesday was $250.71 per cwt, up $0.06. This compares with Wednesday’s Oct contract settlement of $248.57, down $0.85.