E. coli contamination of veggies harder to control than beef, experts say [Video]

Moves by major U.S. fast-food chains to temporarily pull fresh onions off their menus on Thursday, after the vegetable was named as the likely source of an E. coli outbreak at McDonald’s, laid bare the recurring nightmare for restaurants: Produce is a bigger problem for restaurants to keep free of contamination than beef.

Onions are likely the culprit in the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak across the U.S. Midwest and some western states that has sickened 75, up from 49, and killed one. The world’s largest burger chain temporarily paused serving the Quarter Pounder in a fifth of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants that were impacted, the company had said on Wednesday.

Of the 61 people for whom information was available, 22 were hospitalized, and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that can cause kidney failure, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday.

In past years, beef patties dominated the dockets of lawyers dealing with food-borne illness cases, before U.S. …