How McDonald’s can learn from Chipotle, Wendy’s management of food-related illnesses in restaurants

McDonald’s is the latest major fast food company to experience an outbreak of E. coli linked to the menu item.

Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers have been linked to outbreaks of E. coli outbreak covering 10 states.

The CDC launched an investigation after 49 people reported feeling sick after eating it Quarter Pounders. There have been 10 hospitalizations and one death linked to the outbreak.

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Shortly after the CDC’s announcement, McDonald’s said preliminary findings from the investigation indicated that “a subset of illnesses may be linked to the sliced ​​onions used in the Quarter Pounder.”

JPMorgan analysts led by John Ivankoe said that while McDonald’s is now “trading on emotion/concern,” they believe the outbreak “will not cause long-term damage to the brand.”

Analysts expect that “the leading supplier company will quickly fix this problem” and “don’t expect this to cost the US”

Deutsche Bank analyst Lauren Silberman noted in a recent report that the company has already identified the source of the issue and taken “prompt action,” citing its “high-quality supply chain infrastructure” and suggested that it “should help mitigate further risk of contagion.”

Both Chipotle and Wendy’s have faced similar problems, though Silberman said that “if you think of this epidemic as a single and identified problem, this incident looks very similar to that one.” [Wendy’s]” the E. coli outbreak in 2022, linked to the supply chain, than the Chipotle outbreak in 2015, “when the problems were more systemic.”

A McDonald’s fast food restaurant in Belmont, California, on April 3, 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images/Getty Images)

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Chipotle

JPMorgan analysts said part of Chipotle’s problem in 2015 was that there was a “lack of modern tracking methods in the supply chain,” which “caused great concern and disruption within that system.”

“Virtually every ingredient in the store was considered suspect,” the analysts wrote.

After the incident, Chipotle’s then CEO, Steve Ells, said the company had improved its food safety program, which he said was “designing layers of redundancy and improved safety measures to reduce food safety risks to as close to zero as possible.”

Customers sit outside a Chipotle restaurant in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Stock)

Part of the program included high-quality DNA-based testing of many ingredients before they were sent to restaurants.

The company said the move far exceeds the requirements of federal and state regulatory agencies, as well as industry standards. It also made changes to food preparation and food handling methods, including washing and slicing some produce and grilling cheese in central kitchens, peeling certain products in restaurants, and new rules for grilling chicken and steak.

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The company also said it has improved internal training to ensure employees understand the company’s high standards of food safety and food handling. It also confirmed that its paid sick leave helps ensure that sick employees have no incentive to work sick.

Wendy

The CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service are investigating outbreaks of E. coli in many countries but they said they could not confirm the source of the food.

However, “many people who got sick reported eating burgers and romaine lettuce sandwiches at Wendy’s restaurants” before getting sick, the CDC said.

Exterior view of Wendy’s fast food restaurant. (Photos by Paul Weaver/SOPA/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

However, Wendy’s has removed the romaine lettuce used on burgers and sandwiches in restaurants where sick people have eaten, the CDC said.

Shortly after Wendy’s filled a handful of restaurants in the region affected by the lockdown, the CDC said it had closed the investigation.