McDonald’s investing $100 million to lure customers back to the fast food giant after E. coli outbreak

McDonald’s is investing $100 million to “accelerate recovery and support the most heavily impacted franchisees” after an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning tied to onions on the fast-food giant’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers, the company told CBS News in a statement on Saturday.

“A total of $65 million will be invested into supporting franchisees who have lost business, targeting those in the states that were most affected,” the company also told CBS News.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that slivered onions on the Quarter Pounders were the likely source of the E. coli. Taylor Farms in California recalled onions potentially linked to the outbreak.

The E. coli outbreak has sickened 104 people in 14 states, federal health officials said in an update on Wednesday. 

At least 34 people have been hospitalized, and four developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious condition that can cause kidney failure. An 88-year-old man who resided in Grand Junction, Colorado, died, as previously reported. The illnesses began at the end of September, and the most recent onset of illness occurred as of Oct. 21, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Food and Drug Administration has said that “there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak at McDonald’s restaurants.”

However, the outbreak hurt the company’s sales.

Quarter Pounders were removed from menus in several states in the early days of the outbreak. 

In a statement Wednesday obtained by CBS News, McDonald’s said it had found an “alternate supplier” for the approximately 900 restaurants that had temporarily stopped serving Quarter Pounders with slivered onions.

“Over the past week, these restaurants resumed the sale of Quarter Pounder burgers with slivered onions,” McDonald’s said.