A Yellowstone County individual now joins other Montanans seeking legal action against McDonald’s after a recent E. coli outbreak.

The most recent CDC report reveals that 17 of the 90 reported cases are in Montana. Second highest behind Colorado with 29 reported cases.

Last week, the CDC announced that the most likely source of the outbreak was traced to onions scraped from burgers. The FDA investigated whether chopped onions or beef patties were the source of the contamination.

Bill Marler, who represents those affected, except for a recent case in Kalispell, it is rare for beef to be the cause of E. coli.

“Most of the E. coli outbreaks that we see now are, in fact, related to leafy greens, onions, sprouts and those types of things,” Marler said.

A Montana Department of Health and Human Services official said that since 2018, an average of less than one E. coli outbreak has been reported in Montana per year. But the McDonald’s outbreak is the second outbreak of this strain of E. coli reported in 2024 after wagyu beef served in Flathead County.

“Prior to this year, Montana had an E. coli outbreak linked to a family gathering in 2021,” said DPHHS Communications Director Jon Ebelt. “Then in 2018, we had 9 cases of E. coli that were part of a multi-state outbreak related to romaine lettuce, and 3 cases of E. coli related to a rope event.”

NBC Montana reached out to McDonald’s about their future plans and they said no E. coli was found in the beef patties used in their burgers. Believe it was caused by cut onions linked to Taylor Farms Colorado Springs delivered to facilities across the United States, including parts of Montana.

“The problem appears to be limited to a particular ingredient and geography, and we remain very confident that any contaminated products related to this outbreak have been removed from our supply chain and are out of all McDonald’s restaurants,” said the director of McDonald’s supplies, César Piña. in a statement.

A McDonald’s official said the Quarter Pounder will be available in Montana and select locations will serve the product without chopped onions. NBC Montana asked which locations would serve without onions, but received no response.

“Wouldn’t it have made sense for McDonald’s to invest a few million dollars to ensure its onion supply was safe?” Marler told NBC Montana.