Speights: Arkansas Evaded E. Coli Outbreak
Local Jonesboro, Ark., outlet K8 News quoted Dean of NYITCOM-Arkansas , in coverage about an E. coli outbreak in McDonald鈥檚 locations across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that while 14 states are currently combatting the outbreak鈥攕uspected to be caused by slivered onions served on Quarter Pounders鈥擜rkansas has, so far, evaded the bacterial infection.
鈥淭he meat is fine, it鈥檚 actually the onions,鈥� says Speights, who warns that E. coli symptoms can be brutal, including loose stool, fever, dehydration, and, in serious cases, sepsis.
Those slivers that were causing infection likely were not cleaned thoroughly or came from an infected processing area, and McDonald鈥檚 has since changed onion vendors. 鈥淭hose infected onions should not be in any McDonald鈥檚, really, across the country, but certainly not in Arkansas,鈥� Speights says.