Donald Trump campaigned at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, but the chain’s E. coli outbreak came first

Former President Donald Trump briefly helmed a french fry station Oct. 20 at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s — a jab at his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Trump has said without evidence lied about working at the fast food franchise.

But a recent Threads post said the publicity stunt backfired.

"He ‘worked’ 1 hour at a closed McDonald’s and now there’s an E. Coli outbreak," the Oct. 26 post said. "Everything he touches dies."

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Trump made a campaign stop at the McDonald’s, which was closed to the public during the event, though he gave out paper bags to prescreened people in the drive-thru, The Washington Post reported.

And people have recently been sickened by an E. coli outbreak linked to onions served on Quarter Pounders and other McDonald’s menu items, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

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stated on October 21, 2024 in a post

There are “180,000 registered new Amish voters in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.”

But the Threads post gets the timeline wrong. 

The latest CDC information shows that as of Oct. 30, 90 people got sick from this outbreak, though the number is likely higher — it usually takes up to a month to determine if a sick person is connected to an outbreak, the agency said on its website.

The first person got sick Sept. 27. Another Sept. 29. Ten more on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The number of sick people peaked Oct. 3 and 4. The last reported case is from Oct. 16. 

That’s four days before Trump’s fry gig. 

None of those people got sick in Pennsylvania, either, though the CDC said the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses. Montana and Colorado were the states with the most cases, followed by Utah, Nebraska and Missouri. 

We rate claims an E. coli outbreak happened at McDonald’s after Trump campaigned there False.