McDonald's E. Coli Nightmare is a PR Disaster with the CDC Entering the Chat...

Well, it looks like McDonald’s isn’t just frying their fries this week—they’re frying their reputation too. Shares of the fast-food juggernaut took a nosedive in premarket trading Wednesday after the CDC dropped a bombshell big enough to make your stomach turn: an E. coli outbreak tied to the sacred Quarter Pounder has sent 10 people to the hospital and tragically claimed one unlucky soul in Colorado. 

(Source: CNBC) 

In short, the CDC reports that 49 people across 10 states got more than they bargained for with their burger orders, with the bulk of cases hitting Colorado and Nebraska. Most of the victims reported indulging in the iconic Quarter Pounder before their stomachs started waving the white flag and screaming, “we did not sign up for this!” In fact, one person even developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, which basically means their kidneys went on hospice for a bit… not good at all. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Naturally, McDonald’s is now in full-on disaster control mode.The Golden Arches claim they’re taking “swift and decisive action” to tackle the outbreak. And who are they pointing the finger at? Slivered onions. Yeah, apparently a different batch of onions sourced from a single supplier (which is actually concerning in its own right) are the real villains here. 

Of course, Ronald and the Gang have reportedly scratched these onions for the time being - and have temporarily yanked the burger from menus in areas like Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming. But, hey, if you’re a Big Mac or McDouble fan, you can breathe easy—for now, anyway. Those bad boys use a different type of onion. Crisis (sort of) averted.

(Source: Reuters) 

Now with that said, all this drama has McDonald’s stock looking like a soggy fry left out in the sun—shares tanked nearly 7% by Wednesday morning (up 1.10% today). Meanwhile, over at Burger King and Wendy’s HQ, you can practically hear the sound of champagne corks popping - as McDonald's PR nightmare made their menus look less horrific then they already are. 

What’s even worse about this, is that if history’s taught us anything (hello, Chipotle), food safety scandals cling to companies longer than a McRib sticks to your arteries. Remember when Chipotle’s E. coli outbreaks in 2015 turned their stock into a dumpster fire? It lost 50% of its value and took years to bounce back. McDonald’s is crossing their fingers they don’t end up in the same boat, but with 49 customers down and counting, it's looking grim.

(Source: AlJazeera) 

To add even more chaos to the situation, the CDC is pretty much hyped to dig into this situation since it’s the most exciting dilemma since our boy ‘rona. For instance, they’re even warning that the number of affected people is probably higher than the current count.

CDC, probably… (Source: Giphy) 

Which means McDonald’s is in full-blown damage control mode - but the real question is: can they bounce back? With 49 cases, 10 hospitalizations, and one tragic death, the Golden Arches are teetering on the edge of a PR disaster that could make Ray Kroc's scandal of stealing those two poor boys from Illinois’ idea look like a bedtime story. Plus, with competitors like Wendy’s and Burger King just waiting to scoop up disillusioned McFans, it’s about to be a rough ride for Ronald & Co.

In the meantime, keep an eye on McDonalds to see if they pull through on this or not. It’ll definitely be interesting to see, that’s for sure. 

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Stocks.News holds positions in McDonalds as mentioned in the article.