Tainted Salads at McDonald’s

McDonald’s crisis of salads and why the issue cannot be fixed

Justin Hoskins
March 3, 2019

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Abstract
McDonalds reportedly terminated the sales of salads in stores after cases of
cyclophorias appeared in many customers and consumers. The disease is an effect of eating
the salads sold at McDonald’s restaurants. Cyclophorias is the result of consuming water or
food that is carried by a parasite. Symptoms of cyclophorias include diarrhea, appetite loss,
stomach pain, and other intestinal related symptoms.

Case Study
The primary organizational information that is available about the case is found through
statistics published by the food and drug administration, the center for disease control, and
McDonalds as a communicator. McDonalds used statements to organize the crisis. The
statements included what was going to be done to reduce the crisis. McDonalds removed
salads from 3000 stores. McDonalds stated, “out of an abundance of caution” as they were
concerned about their customers.

Government intervention was provided by the food and drug administration and the center
for disease control. Many statistics were published by the government agencies as McDonalds
tried to rectify the crisis by removing lettuce.

The Nation’s Restaurant News reported that victims are suing McDonalds for damages
caused by the lettuce.

Media coverage was present and active in covering the McDonalds salad crisis. When
looking online I have found that every major news or media station has provided at least one
initial story on the crisis. Most media outlets have multiple and continuous stories regarding
the McDonalds lettuce crisis.

A direct secondary crisis did not develop however lurking suspicions of lettuce from the
McDonald’s crisis has kept many consumers on edge. Shortly after the McDonald’s crisis there
was a romaine lettuce crisis that had secondary developments and effects.

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Table of Contents

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..………..……..2

Case Study……………………………………………………………………………..….……………………..2

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………..……………3

Overview……………………………………………………………………………………….…..…………….4

About the Organization…………………………………………………………………………..………..5

Corporate Culture & Structure…………………………………………………..……………………..6

History of the Situation…………………………………..…………………………….….…………..6-7

Crisis Communication Strategy by Organization……………………………………....……….7

Recovery attempt………………………………………………………………………………….………7-8

Financial impact…………………………………………………………………………………..……………8

Stakeholders………………………………………………………………………………………..…………..9

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………10

References…………………………………………………………………………………………………11-12

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Overview
McDonald’s response to the cyclophorias outbreak was in the form of non-verbal
communication. McDonald’s response was an action as the organization removed and stopped
selling salads at three thousand of its stores. The crisis that McDonald’s experienced was a threat
to their reputation, customer base, and organization. The spread of the crisis reaches three
thousand stores directly and indirectly emotionally impacted many of existing and potential
customers. The threat of the crisis was the parasite found in the salads that caused cyclophorias.
The indirect threat was customer loss, profit loss, rebuilding, and recovery within the crisis. Other
threats of McDonalds include competition, public health, economic decline, and environmental
issues. In this case study McDonalds initiated a public health crisis.

The affected stakeholders of McDonald’s tainted salad crisis were and are employees,
customers, investors, and communities. McDonalds views its stakeholders as any impacted or
effected party with social responsibility in relation to the organization. McDonald’s has named
the employees as the most important stakeholder group within the organization. Customers fall
second to employees in the prioritizing of stakeholders during the crisis. Customers are provided
with affordable food choices to maintain the profits the organization is setting out to maintain.
McDonalds has listed investors as the third from the top stakeholder priority. Investors play a
major role in McDonald’s success. McDonald’s provides as stable and growing business to satisfy
the investment stakeholders. Communities are the fourth and least important stakeholder group
to McDonald’s organization. Community stakeholders represent Charites such as the Ronald
McDonald House and other supported organizations that support community growth and
development. The reaction of the stakeholders was astonishment as investors saw a decline in
profits, employees were faced with questions from the customer stakeholders, and the
community that once relied on McDonald’s now had to help rebuild the organization that helps
the community (McDonald's Stakeholders: A CSR Analysis - Panmore Institute).

The media and social media responded by headlining the negative message from a
consumer viewpoint. Media outlets published news feeds that mentioned “salads caused
outbreak” and “over three hundred sick from McDonald’s salads.” Nothing was published to help
the situation from the organizations viewpoint. The media outlets did a great job of making the
publics aware of the situation and crisis at hand. The organization that was impacted was
McDonald’s but McDonald’s failed to release public information regarding the outbreak.
McDonald’s rather than communicating its concerns, actions, and recovery efforts, the
organization simply just removed salads from three thousand stores. The response of the
organization implied guilt but did not contain an apology. McDonald’s used a situational
communication theory as they removed the salads from the menus in three thousand stores.

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About the Organization
McDonald’s can trace its roots to the story of Ray Kroc, a customer of a burger restaurant
who was amazed by the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of the restaurant he visited in San
Bernardino, California in 1955. The owner of the burger restaurant that Ray Kroc visited was
looking to franchise out to expand its market. Ray Kroc jumped on the opportunity and just four
years after doing so he sold the one hundred millionth hamburger. Ray Kroc joined brothers Dick
and Mac McDonald to create the franchise of McDonalds in 1955 (Grinding it Out).

McDonald’s has maintained a quote from the founder of “quality, service, cleanliness, and
value” as the organization wants to serve the same burger in every state (McDonalds: Behind
the Golden Arches by John F. Love). The constancy of McDonald’s has provided employees and
customers an expectation every time one enters an outlet store. McDonald’s double arches,
quick service, and consistency is a world known symbol. The United States is home to the busiest
and highest volume of McDonald’s outlets as seen in Figure 5-1 below.

Figure 5-1

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Corporate Culture & Structure
McDonald’s corporate culture and structure is dynamic and complex as McDonald’s is the
world’s largest burger restaurant. McDonald’s as an organization claims that they put employees
first but monetary compensation of McDonald’s employees shows otherwise. McDonald’s places
emphasis on employees, customers, communities, and charities. Figure 6-1 represents the
breakdown of how McDonald’s approaches structure amongst the organization.

Figure 6-1

History of the Situation

McDonald’s began their healthy and going green endeavors as corporate marketing and
innovation director Wendy Cook pushed for salads to be served in McDonald’s outlet stores. By
the end of 2003, over one hundred fifty million salads had been sold at McDonald’s outlet stores
(MacArthur, K.). Wendy Cook’s desire for salads to be on the menu at McDonald’s because she
thought “women did not feel good about going to McDonald’s.”

In 2018, customers and consumers of McDonald’s began showing up in volume to local

doctor offices and emergency rooms. Doctors quickly noticed a trend with the symptoms of
patients. All patients arrived complaining of diarrhea, stomach pain, and bloating. Each patient
that had the similar stomach related symptoms also admitted to consuming McDonald’s in the
recent past. More importantly each patient also mentioned that they consumed a salad from
McDonald’s. The federal drug administration and center for disease control were quickly notified

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regarding the symptoms and diagnosis. The diagnosis was cyclophorias which was caused by
parasites in the lettuce greens.

McDonald’s immediately pulled salads from the menu in three thousand stores that were
believed to be impacted by the parasite that caused cyclophorias. McDonald’s reacted by pulling
the product from the stores but did not make a public statement until the federal drug
administration made the hunch a theory. The federal drug administration confirmed that the
salads were contaminated with a parasite that causes cyclophorias. The federal drug
administration made a public announcement via social media and on twitter in July of 2018 as
seen in Figure 7-1.

Figure 7-1

Crisis Communication Strategy by Organization

McDonald’s demonstrated a situational and reactive crisis communication strategy
following the initial tainted salad outbreak. The federal drug administration published a public
announcement stating what McDonald’s had done to contain the crisis which forced McDonald’s
to communicate to the public, their customers, their stakeholders, and their employees.
McDonald’s made a statement “Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to voluntarily stop
selling salads at impacted restaurants until we can switch to another lettuce blend supplier,”

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McDonald’s said in a statement. “We are in the process of removing existing lettuce blend from
identified restaurants and distribution centers – which includes approximately 3,000 of our U.S.
restaurants primarily located in the Midwest.” (Ducharme, J.).

RECOVERY

McDonald’s has been resilient in the health concerned food choices on their menu
following the outbreak of cyclophorias caused by parasites found within the greens in the salads
served at McDonalds.

In order to recover and get the organization back to normal, McDonald’s has created a
“premium salad” line that consist of fancier salads. The premium salad line has been partnered
with Newman’s Own salad dressing. Newman’s own salad dressing is known for healthy food
and positive public relations. The fast-food chain is offering three "premium" choices--Bacon
Ranch, California Cobb, and Caesar. Each can be ordered one of three ways: with crispy chicken,
with grilled chicken, or chicken less. A premium side salad is now available, too. And in an
unusual twist, the salads are teamed up with Newman's Own salad dressing, the Paul Newman
brand with the "healthy" image (New Salads at McDonald’s: Choose, But Choose Wisely).

Financial Impact

McDonald’s corporation tainted salad crisis led to a dip in stock prices for one week that
were once again followed up by a positive change in the stock change. Figure 8-1 represents
the rolling year’s stock change. The tainted salad crisis had no real financial impact on
McDonald’s. The real Impact was the reputation of the McDonald’s name and the salad line
that McDonald’s served to consumers. McDonald’s corporation is such a large organization
that tainted salads impacting three thousand outlets in the United States will not devastate the
organization but rather present the organization with a speed bump. The organization was able
to bounce back quickly after a quick dip in shares due to the diverse and broad customer base

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throughout the entire world. The salad crisis was contained to the United States based outlet
stores so other countries did not know what the stores were experiencing.

Figure 8-1

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are defined as anyone who has an interest in an organization or anyone who
is affected or impacted as a result of decision the organization makes, a mistake the organization
makes, or a crisis the organization experiences. McDonald’s stakeholders consist of employees,
customers, owners, and charities as seen in Figure 9-1. McDonald’s currently has over one and a
half million employees that were impacted as stakeholders. Employees are the front-line force
when faced with a public health crisis.

Figure 9-1

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Conclusion
In conclusion, McDonald’s was presented with, faced, contained, and recovered from a
public health crisis. McDonald’s was reactive to the crisis of tainted salads that made many
customers sick with cyclophorias. McDonald’s worked with government officials throughout the
crisis to ensure the best outcome for consumers, publics, and all stakeholders.

McDonalds reportedly terminated the sales of salads in stores after cases of cyclophorias
appeared in many customers and consumers. The disease is an effect of eating the salads sold
at McDonald’s restaurants. Cyclophorias is the result of consuming water or food that is carried
by a parasite. Symptoms of cyclophorias include diarrhea, appetite loss, stomach pain, and other
intestinal related symptoms.

The primary organizational information that is available about the case is found through
statistics published by the food and drug administration, the center for disease control, and
McDonalds as a communicator. McDonalds used statements to organize the crisis. The
statements included what was going to be done to reduce the crisis. McDonalds removed salads
from 3000 stores. McDonalds stated, “out of an abundance of caution” as they were concerned
about their customers. Government intervention was provided by the food and drug
administration and the center for disease control. Many statistics were published by the
government agencies as McDonalds tried to rectify the crisis by removing lettuce.

The Nation’s Restaurant News reported that victims are suing McDonalds for damages caused
by the lettuce. Media coverage was present and active in covering the McDonalds salad crisis.
When looking online I have found that every major news or media station has provided at least
one initial story on the crisis. Most media outlets have multiple and continuous stories regarding
the McDonalds lettuce crisis. A direct secondary crisis did not develop however lurking suspicions
of lettuce from the McDonald’s crisis has kept many consumers on edge. Shortly after the
McDonald’s crisis there was a romaine lettuce crisis that had secondary developments and
effects.

McDonald’s has now recovered from the tainted salad crisis and has now learned to monitor
food distribution more closely to prevent future foodborne crises in the future. McDonald’s will
always be a symbol of the United States and overnight success of the McDonald brothers.

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 References
2018 has been an Big, Bad Year for Foodborne Illnesses in the US - and, we are only 1/2 way

through the year | Food Poison Journal. (2018, July 20). Retrieved from

https://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/foodborne-illness-outbreaks/2018-has-been-an-

big-bad-year-for-foodborne-illnesses-in-the-us/

Debra Goldschmidt, CNN. (2018, August 23). More than 500 sick from outbreak linked to

McDonald's salads. Retrieved from

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/health/mcdonalds-salad-illness-update/index.html

Ducharme, J. (2018). McDonald’s Salads May Be Behind a Parasitic Illness Outbreak in Illinois

and Iowa. Time.Com, 1. Retrieved from

https://login.proxy006.nclive.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dir

ect=true&db=a9h&AN=130723945&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray A. Kroc, ©Ray A. Kroc 1977.

Jeremy C. Owens. (2018, July 12). McDonald's salads believed to have sickened dozens across

two states. Retrieved from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mcdonalds-salads-

believed-to-have-sickened-dozens-across-two-states-2018-07-12

MacArthur, K. (2004). McDonald’s salads. Advertising Age, 75(44), S-8. Retrieved from

https://login.proxy006.nclive.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?d

irect=true&db=a9h&AN=14945260&site=ehost-live&scope=site

McDonalds: Behind the Golden Arches by John F. Love ©John F. Love 1995.

aboutmcdonalds.com 2009.

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McDonald's Stakeholders: A CSR Analysis - Panmore Institute. (2017, February 5). Retrieved

from http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-stakeholders-csr-analysis

New Salads At McDonald’s: Choose, But Choose Wisely. (2003). Tufts University Health &

Nutrition Letter, 21(3), 8. Retrieved from

https://login.proxy006.nclive.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dir

ect=true&db=a9h&AN=9871353&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Stomach parasite traced to McDonald's salads. (2018, July 14). Retrieved from

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/61-sick-parasite-outbreak-linked-

mcdonald-s-salads-n891381

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