Of note, only 8 restaurants out of the 43 that have been closed were cited as sources of the outbreak, which may also be linked to other, non-Chipotle foodservice establishments or even grocery stories.
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So far at least 37 cases of the illness have been reported.
On the heels of an E. coli incident that was linked to eight of its restaurants in Oregon and Washington state, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) has taken a number of immediate steps to assist investigators as they conduct their review of the incident in Oregon and Washington.
People have reported symptoms of E. coli infection in Clackamas and Washington counties in Oregon, and Clark, King, Skagit and Cowlitz counties in Washington.
It’s also possible more stores will close in Oregon or other nearby states if the investigation finds E. coli cases beyond the current presumed limits of the outbreak. The following day, her stool sample tested positive for shiga toxin-producing E. coli, according to USA Today.
Then, samples of food from the restaurants will be tested at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration laboratory to see if bacteria from the food matches the human cases.
“We’re really relying on working closely with Chipotle”, said Dr. Katrina Hedberg, Oregon’s state epidemiologist.
The outbreak is not the first that Chipotle has had to contend with in recent months.
The woman, Charmaine Mode, claimed that she ordered a burrito bowl at a Chipotle outlet and that made her sick with the E. coli bacteria. A Norovirus outbreak temporarily closed one California restaurant and salmonella closed another restaurant in Minnesota in August.
Shares in Chipotle, which has had two other food safety lapses this year, were down 0.3 percent at $621.36 in midday trading on Wednesday. On average, two dozen occurred from 2010 to 2014, up from six a year from 1973 to 2010. The source of the tainted food has not yet been determined.
After shutting restaurants in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, Chipotle is doing a deep cleaning of the locations, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
“Ideally, any of these trace-back systems should help”, said Jaydee Hanson, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes food safety and sustainable agriculture.
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Officials said Tuesday that the the microorganism responsible for causing the illnesses has been identified and could be tied to produce used by the chain.
