McDonald’s announced on Saturday that it would invest $100 million to “accelerate recovery and support the most heavily impacted franchisees” after last month’s E. coli outbreak.
“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 said in a letter to CBS News.
The outbreak involved McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers and the onions used on the famous sandwiches.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the onions produced by Taylor Farms were potentially linked to the outbreak of E. coli in 14 states. Overall, 104 people were sickened, according to an update from Wednesday.
At least 34 people had been hospitalized, and four people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can cause kidney failure. The US Food and Drug Administration shared that the illnesses first started popping up in September and continued through October.
An 88-year-old man who resided in Grand Junction, Colorado, died from the E. coli outbreak.
The FDA has also noted that there “does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak at McDonald’s restaurants.”
Still, the outbreak has resulted in the company’s sales being impacted after Quarter Pounders in several states were removed from menus in the early days of the outbreak.
McDonald’s said on Wednesday that it had obtained an “alternate supplier” for the nearly 900 restaurants that were temporarily affected and stopped offering slivered onions on its burgers.
“Over the past week, these restaurants resumed the sale of Quarter Pounder burgers with slivered onions,” McDonald’s said.