The Onion Recall that Impacted McDonald’s Illustrates the Importance of Working as a Supply Chain

McDonald’s Quarter Pounders were temporarily removed from the menu across 13 states due to E. coli contamination, likely from onions used on the burgers. This widespread foodborne illness outbreak has killed at least one person and sickened 75 others, with cases expected to rise.

Investigators suspect that the contaminated onions came from Taylor Farms, a supplier for McDonald’s and other restaurants. Although Taylor Farms has not detected E. coli in their facilities, they’ve stopped distributing several types of onions as a precaution.

While the E. coli was only linked to McDonald’s thus far, other restaurant chains – including Burger King, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut – have removed onions from their menus.

This E. coli outbreak reinforces the need for restaurants – and all food businesses – to manage recalls as a supply chain, especially considering the huge scale of this event.

Handle Recalls as a Supply Chain

For any food brand, consumer protection is the most important part of recall management. In the Taylor Farms recall, there’s been widespread communication explaining what happened, where it happened, and what to do if a trading partner has any contaminated products (destroy them) or if consumers suspect they may be ill from eating the impacted products (seek medical attention).

This E. coli outbreak reinforces the need for restaurants – and all food businesses – to manage recalls as a supply chain, especially considering the huge scale of this event.

The second priority is brand protection. Companies must be transparent, honest, and compassionate as they explain what they’re doing to protect public health and to ensure that similar outbreaks won’t happen again.

Planning and managing recalls individually vs. collaboratively with trading partners can be risky. When companies work independently, it often results in inaccuracies, inefficiencies, and confusion, as information and action aren’t streamlined between manufacturers, distributors, restaurants, and other points of sale. Additionally, when businesses operate in silos, the lack of a consistent data set, complimentary communication messaging, or synchronized management tools between trading partners make recall efficiency and monitoring difficult to track. These disconnected efforts can make recall efforts slower, more error-prone, and less efficient – at a time when every moment counts.

As this onion recall illustrates, the food industry must work collaboratively. When trading partners – from suppliers to distributors and points of sale – share standard data and expectations, the result is information being shared wider and faster, the path of compromised products tracked more accurately, and contaminated products are removed from all points in the supply chain more efficiently and completely. Using standardized processes and data allows trading partners to get faster recall notifications, driving quick, decisive action to pull potentially contaminated products from the marketplace. A collaborative recall approach helps protect people's lives andcompanies’ brands.

Maximize Public Health and Brand Reputation

Companies must work together to identify and remediate risks. To accomplish this:

• Pivot from an individual company approach to a supply-chain approach. When brands act alone – and use their own processes and non-standardized data sets – it can cause delays, inaccuracies, and confusion. Becoming Recall Ready – as a community or supply chain – is a collective effort, using standard processes, standardized data, and collective practice.  
• Plan and prepare with training partners. Managing recalls properly starts before an outbreak. Plan and prepare together with your trading partners, conducting recall simulations and practicing the recall process to ensure everyone understands their roles, and identify (and rectify) knowledge gaps.
• Work quickly and collaboratively. The national distribution and the scale of this recall is huge. It’s been integral for all parties to galvanize, identify the cause of the E. coli, destroy contaminated products, alert trading partners (including other restaurants that may have received contaminated products), and inform the public. McDonald’s quickly stopped sales of the Quarter Pounder in the states impacted by the recall – approximately one-fifth of its 14,000+ U.S. locations – and communicated this directive quickly and clearly to numerous locations. This recall demonstrates the importance of working across the supply chain – from the farm that supplied the implicated onions to the restaurants that served them. Every point along the supply chain must check inventory, determine whether they have any of the identified products, pull and destroy them, and contribute to shared reports.
• Integrate systems and data. Standardized systems and data help partners share product details, production records, and distribution patterns. This makes it easier to track contaminated products and remove them completely. 
• Communicate effectively. As demonstrated in this instance, once onions were identified as the likely cause of the E. coli, Taylor Farms communicated to its restaurant clients alerting them that they may have the affected product and informing them what to do (discontinue using the onions, destroy any product they have). They’ve been cooperative with investigators and are being forthcoming with their restaurant clients and the media. They’re communicating clear, actionable messaging, tailored to specific stakeholders (e.g., restaurants, consumers, media), explaining what happened, how it happened, and what happens next.
• Utilize integrated tech tools. Tech solutions dramatically improve visibility, traceability, and trackability, allowing trading partners to elevate recall management. Tech tools help trading partners track contaminated products, determine the extent of distribution, and remove tainted foods quickly and completely. Using recall management software standardizes data, automates workflows, and facilitates streamlined communication with trading partners. This is what brands need during a time-sensitive recall!

A foodborne illness outbreak – and subsequent recall – could happen at any restaurant. If it happens at yours, are you properly prepared to manage it? Are you aligned with trading partners, understanding your roles and how you’ll communicate? Become Recall Ready across your supply chain, working with your trading partners, utilizing standardized processes and data, leveraging integrated tech tools, and communicating effectively. These efforts are vital to protect public health and your brand’s reputation.