US fast-food chain McDonald’s says it will resume selling Quarter Pounder hamburgers in the coming week after testing ruled out beef patties as a source in an E. coli outbreak.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, had confirmed as of Friday 75 cases in 13 states and one death related to the outbreak of E. coli O157 poisoning linked to the hamburgers.
The company last week pulled the burgers from all of its restaurants’ menus in the affected areas.
McDonald’s said on Sunday that it was informed by authorities that samples from Quarter Pounder beef patties tested negative for the bacteria.
The company added that analysis of information from authorities and other data suggests the poisoning could be linked to slivered onions from an external supplier’s facility.
The food chain says about 900 restaurants that normally received slivered onions from the facility will resume sales of Quarter Pounders without them.