A farm in Salinas has been pegged as the culprit in the nationwide E. coli outbreak that was initially linked to Quarter Pounders at McDonald's, and that has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states.

McDonald's announced Thursday that they had traced the pathogen back to onions from Taylor Farms in Salinas, California, specifically those that were sent to one distribution center in Colorado.

As the Associated Press reports, Taylor Farms has now issued a recall for all whole and diced yellow onions for potential E. coli contamination.

All of the reported infections so far — at least 49, with one of those being fatal — have been connected to people who ate Quarter Pounder sandwiches at McDonald's.

Restaurant Brands International, which owns Burger King, issued a statement to the AP saying that it was not aware of any infections tied to its food, and it sourced about 5% of its onions from Taylor Farms' Colorado facility. The company said it had instructed all of its restaurants to dispose of those onions two days ago, and they were re-supplying from other sources.

Kentucky-based Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, said that it was proactively removing fresh onions from its menu items as a precaution.

Chipotle also told the AP that it does not source any of its onions from Taylor Farms' Colorado facility.

The AP notes that Taylor Farms' onions were the culprit in a previous E.coli incident which you may recall. An onion-celery mixture from Taylor Farms that was used to make Costco chicken salad sickened 19 people in 2015. And in 2023, onions from a different California farm, Gills Onions of Oxnard, were implicated in a salmonella outbreak.

E.coli was previously the culprit in an outbreak in 2006 linked to bagged spinach coming out of San Benito County.

Photo: Tom Hermans