Despite the outbreak, McDonald’s has not closed any restaurants. Credit: 8th.creator/ Shutterstock.

McDonald’s has suspended the sale of Quarter Pounder burgers at 20% of its locations across the US.

The decision follows an E coli outbreak related to the item that has affected ten states, resulting in one fatality and 49 people becoming sick.

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The fast-food giant has removed the burgers from outlets in Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming and parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Associated Press reports that this measure was taken after the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) identified the Quarter Pounder as the likely source of the infections.

McDonald’s US chief Joe Erlinger said on NBC’s Today Show: “Given the events of the past 24 hours, our priority is to reinforce the confidence of American consumers.”

Erlinger went on to state that the unidentified product that caused the contamination had already passed through the company’s supply chain.

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Despite the outbreak, McDonald’s has not closed any restaurants. According to government investigations, there were no indications of deficiencies in its food preparation processes.

The US Food and Drug Administration’s preliminary findings suggested that fresh slivered onions used in the burgers might be the source of contamination.

McDonald’s also uses raw slivered onions in a breakfast sandwich not offered at the affected locations.

Other burgers, such as the Big Mac, utilise diced, cooked onions. The company is currently seeking a new regional supplier for fresh onions.

Since being notified about the potential outbreak late last week, McDonald’s has collaborated with federal food safety regulators to manage the situation.

With 14,000 outlets in the US alone, the brand serves more than one million Quarter Pounders every two weeks in the impacted states.