Woman Eats McDonald’s Cheeseburger And Was Soon Rushed to the Hospital: 'I Thought I Was...'
It might add another layer of blubber to the belly, but McDonald’s cheeseburger has maintained its celebrity status for a dozen decades. The burger has a dedicated fan base, including Selena Gomez, Kanye West, Chrissy Teigen, Donald Trump, and Jeff Bezos. For billionaire Bill Gates, this burger plus a Diet Coke is his go-to snack each time he visits the restaurant. Hailed for its cut-price, this appetizing snack is a whopping sandwich of buns guzzled with tangy pickles, chopped onions, ketchup, mustard sauce, melted American cheese, and a lip-smacking patty seasoned with salt, pepper, and spices.
When British woman Beth McIntosh ate a McDonald’s cheeseburger, her experience was rather unusual. To say it in simple terms, it was a bit scary. She felt as if she was going to die, reports Devon Live. It was September 25, 2024. McIntosh visited the McDonald’s outlet located in Stone Lane Retail Park in Exeter, England, and ordered a regular cheeseburger. The taste was good and the flavours delicious as usual. However, just minutes after eating it, she felt dizzy and had to be rushed to a nearby hospital in an ambulance. It was determined later on that she had suffered from “anaphylactic shock.
According to the Mayo Clinic, anaphylaxis is “a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. It can occur within seconds or minutes of exposure to something you're allergic to, such as peanuts or bee stings.” In this case, obviously, it was the peanuts that triggered this allergic reaction in McIntosh. “It was quite severe. I actually thought that was it yesterday. It was within minutes that my face had come up all red and my eyes were all swollen,” McIntosh described to Devon Live, “My throat had started to close up and by the time the ambulance arrived, the EpiPen had improved me a little bit but they said if they hadn't got there soon, they don't know what would have happened.”
Even though she was aware that her body was allergic to nuts, this was the first time she experienced anaphylactic shock for real, not just once, but also a second time, when she was admitted to the hospital. "Even after the EpiPen, I went into a secondary reaction while I was in the hospital. Altogether, the itching, the burning, the coughing, and struggling to breathe all lasted about four hours," she shared. Although the burger itself didn’t have peanuts, the mustard sauce could be the possible culprit. In the same year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued a warning to people with peanut allergy to avoid products that include mustard as an ingredient.
“The FSA is advising people who have a peanut allergy to avoid consuming foods that contain or may contain mustard, mustard powder or mustard flour because they may have been contaminated with peanuts,” the organization warned. According to The Sun, McDonald’s clarified that the mustard it uses is not contaminated with peanuts. A spokesperson from the fast food restaurant chain said, “We are aware of the recent Food Standards Agency (FSA) warning regarding the potential contamination of mustard products with peanuts and want to reassure our customers that the mustard supplied to McDonald's, and therefore our products, have in no way been affected by this issue.”
The restaurant said that although they’re confident that their mustard ingredients are not contaminated with peanuts, they cannot fully ensure whether all the ingredients they use are allergen-free. Meanwhile, after her horrifying experience, McIntosh said that it’s unsafe for people to eat McDonald’s burgers. "I'm really upset because McDonald's hasn't told people with nut allergies. I thought I was going to die,” she said. FSA reported that it had traced the contaminated ingredients to a producer in India, but is still working with local authorities to determine the affected products and their source. They warned people to check in with their bodies to see if they have any allergies before ordering any edibles containing mustard.