Moreover, 8 players on the Boston College Basketball team confirmed to have E.coli just moments after Boston College’s university medical staff sent out a campus-wide email notifying students and faculty that there were numerous people on campus that had become sick from the Chipotle restaurant in Cleveland Circle.
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That outbreak, the company’s third food safety incident since August, has raised concern about potential damage to the fast-growing brand that has won a loyal following for its food made with fresh produce, meats raised without antibiotics and ingredients that are free of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.
The stock was down 2% to $540.59 at midday.
BOSTON (AP) – Boston College says the number of students reporting gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle has climbed to 80.
Final test results were expected to take a couple of days.
According to a statement from the Boston Public Health Commission, 65 people have reported getting sick after eating at the restaurant, not all of them BC students.
The chain has been under a microscope since October 31, when it was first linked to an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 52 people in nine states. “We do not have any evidence to suggest that this incident is related the previous E. coli incident”. At least 265,000 of those cases involve E. coli. That location has since been temporarily closed for further investigation.
“There are no reports of illness from any other restaurants, and the pattern here looks like norovirus isolated to one restaurant”, Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold told Reuters.
William Christopher, commissioner of the department, said at a briefing Tuesday that it was not immediately known if the restaurant’s management was aware of the employee’s symptoms.
The same report also adds that it is likely that the latest incident could be a norovirus infection, which is generally considered to be less serious when compared to an E. coli infection. Norovirus can be contracted from an infected person or from contaminated food, water or surfaces.
The most recent illness started November 13, according to the CDC.
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Steve Ells, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle, said in the release that the company is working, “harder than ever to ensure that our food is safe and delicious”.
