McDonald’s value drops by billions after hamburgers linked to E. coli outbreak

Shares in the fast food chain dropped by as much as 6% in morning trading, adding to a fall in its stock overnight

McDonald's has seen billions of dollars wiped off its market value following an E. coli outbreak linked to its burgers.

The fast food giant's shares plummeted by up to 6% in Wednesday morning trading, adding to an overnight stock fall. This has resulted in the company's market value dropping from over £174bn ($225bn) on Tuesday to around £166bn ($215bn).

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a food safety alert on Tuesday, reporting at least 49 illnesses across 10 states in the US. The outbreak, tied to McDonald’s quarter pounder burgers, led to one death and hospitalised 10 others, according to the CDC.

UK and Ireland McDonald’s stores remain unaffected. The CDC revealed that each person who fallen ill had eaten at a McDonald’s prior to their illness, with most specifically reporting they had a quarter pounder.

The exact ingredient causing the illness is yet to be identified, but investigators are particularly focusing on the slivered onions and beef patties in the hamburgers. McDonald’s informed public health authorities that they have proactively removed the slivered onions and beef patties used for the quarter pounder hamburgers from stores in the affected states while the investigation continues.

As a result, the quarter pounder product is temporarily unavailable in some states.

On Wednesday morning, McDonald’s USA president, Joe Erlinger, told NBC: “We are very confident that you can go to McDonald’s and enjoy our classics.

"I want to say to our consumers that you can confidently go to McDonald’s today. We took swift action yesterday to remove the quarter pounder from our menu."

Addressing potential supply chain concerns, he added, "If there has been contaminated product within our supply chain, it’s very likely worked itself through that supply chain already."

McDonald’s has yet to respond to requests for a statement.