Fast-Food Chains With The Worst Food Poisoning Outbreaks

Every year, 48 million Americans get sick and some 3,000 die from foodborne illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli being the most common culprits. And while food poisoning can happen anywhere, fast-food chains have seen some of the worst outbreaks due to their massive scale.

Data from iwaspoisoned.com, a food safety reporting platform, shows McDonald’s as a leader in food poisoning reports across 23 states from 2012 to 2023, followed by Chipotle in 20 states, Taco Bell in 5, and Chick-fil-A in 2. Some of these outbreaks left hundreds sick and forced changes to food safety rules. 

Here are 6 fast-food chains that had the worst food poisoning outbreaks. 

McDonald’s is currently in full-blown damage control as sales drop across multiple locations, with the largest fast-food chain the country being at the center of one of the biggest foodborne illness outbreaks in recent memory. 

An E. coli O157 outbreak, linked to contaminated slivered onions in Quarter Pounders, has sickened 104 people across 14 states since October 2024. Both the CDC and FDA  have an ongoing investigation while McDonald’s is pouring $100 million into ad campaigns to win back diners.  

A fast food chain’s reputation takes a major hit after one serious food poisoning outbreak. So, it’s unfathomable that Chipotle is still going strong, given it didn’t just have one or two but eight food poisoning outbreaks over three years. More than 1,100 people became ill from outbreaks of norovirus, salmonella, and E. coli between 2015 and 2018.

After a thorough investigation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded that these outbreaks were largely due to the chain’s failure to follow food safety protocols. According to the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, Chipotle employees — many of whom were teenagers and young adults — were pressured to work despite being sick. 

In 2020, the Mexican grill chain agreed to pay a $25 million criminal fine and promised to improve its food safety program after the Justice Department charged it with negligence and adulterating food. 

In 2022, 109 people across six states were sickened by an E. coli outbreak, and they all had one thing in common: they ate a hamburger at Wendy’s.  

While a CDC investigation pointed to romaine lettuce in burgers and sandwiches as the likely culprit, they couldn’t confirm it due to a lack of lab or traceback evidence. Over half of the victims were hospitalized, and 13 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition that can cause kidney failure.  

Wendy’s responded by removing romaine lettuce from affected restaurants. However, that action wasn’t enough to contain the fallout, and multiple lawsuits followed. In 2024, a Michigan family filed a $20 million lawsuit against the chain after their 11-year-old daughter spent an extended time in the pediatric ICU and was left with permanent brain damage from food poisoning. 

In 2003, Chi-Chi’s was on its last legs, having struggled financially and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the year before. But instead of quietly fading into history as a once-beloved Mexican family restaurant, it became infamous for something far worse: being at the center of the worst Hepatitis A outbreak in American history.  

In October 2003, the Pennsylvania Health Department announced a Hepatitis A outbreak traced to a Chi-Chi’s restaurant on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. An epidemiological study by the FDA and CDC revealed that the outbreak was caused by contaminated green onions imported from Mexican farms, served raw or undercooked at the restaurant. 

By the end of the epidemic, over 650 cases of Hepatitis A were reported across six states, and four people died from liver failure. Additionally, nearly 9,000 people who dined at the restaurant or had close contact with infected customers needed immunizations. 

Already bankrupt, Chi-Chi’s paid $800,000 in a class-action settlement and $6 million to a victim who needed a liver transplant — before closing its doors for good in 2004. 

In 2006, Taco Bell was asked to provide ingredient samples by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after numerous E. coli cases were linked to the Tex-Mex giant. The investigation ultimately traced the outbreak to contaminated shredded lettuce used in several menu items. 

The outbreak sickened 71 people, eight of whom developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome, across states including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. 

Four children died, and over 700 people became seriously ill with a toxic strain of E. coli in what remains one of the most tragic foodborne outbreaks caused by a restaurant in American history — a crisis that not only rocked the nation but also transformed food safety regulations. 

In January 1993, Washington health officials reported a trend of people, mostly children, developing hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a severe complication often caused by E. coli infection. The number of cases soon multiplied and spread to other states, including California, Idaho, and Nevada. After a thorough investigation by the CDC and USDA, the outbreak was traced to undercooked, contaminated beef used in hamburgers served at a Jack in the Box restaurant. 

Ultimately, 73 different locations of the burger chain were linked to the outbreak. The burger chain lost around $44 million that year, with sales dropping by 30% in the months following the incident. 

In response to the outbreak, federal agencies made it illegal to sell food containing the strain E. coli O157, and any discovery of the pathogen must now be reported to the CDC. The deadly outbreak that devastated families is highlighted in the 2023 Netflix documentary Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food.

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