'Defective Patty Delivery' Employee Suspended with Probation... McDonald's States "Issue Unrelated to HUS Case"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Recently, food company officials who were prosecuted for supplying large quantities of hamburger patties potentially contaminated with E. coli to McDonald's Korea received suspended sentences in the first trial. On the 27th, McDonald's Korea clarified that this case is unrelated to the so-called "hamburger disease," hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), affecting children.

In a statement released that day, McDonald's Korea said, "Although this case is a separate matter unrelated to the so-called hemolytic uremic syndrome affected children case, we deeply regret the misunderstanding that there is a causal relationship." They explained, "The patties supplied by the company in question are different in type from the HUS-related patties, and the manufacturing times are different, making it a completely unrelated incident."

On the 26th, Judge Jang Young-chae of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 11 sentenced Song Mo, the managing director of beef patty supplier company M, who was indicted without detention on charges of violating the Livestock Products Sanitation Control Act, to three years in prison with a four-year suspended sentence. The factory manager and quality control team leader of the same company also received suspended sentences.

Regarding the HUS case, McDonald's Korea emphasized that after more than six months of investigation by judicial authorities, ▲HUS has various causes and infection routes, ▲there is no evidence to support claims that the hamburger patties cooked automatically on high-temperature grills (218°C on the top plate and 177°C on the bottom plate) were undercooked, and ▲the product consumed by the child was a pork patty, not the beef patty from the supplier involved in the issue, leading to a non-prosecution decision.

In September 2016, A, a 4-year-old girl at the time, ate a hamburger at a McDonald's store in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. She experienced abdominal pain 2 to 3 hours later. As her condition worsened, she was admitted to the intensive care unit three days later and diagnosed with HUS. As a sequela, she was diagnosed with grade 2 kidney disability. A's parents filed a complaint against McDonald's Korea in July 2017 for violating the Food Sanitation Act and other charges. However, the prosecution investigating the case found insufficient evidence to prove McDonald's responsibility and decided not to prosecute in February 2018, indicting only three related parties, including the patty manufacturer, without detention.

A McDonald's Korea official stated, "An agreement was reached in 2019 with the family who claimed damages to support the necessary treatment costs on a humanitarian basis." They added, "The former patty supplier is no longer in business with us; we ceased transactions in 2017 and immediately took necessary measures such as recalling and disposing of remaining stock."