These are Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Minnesota, Maryland, Illinois and California.
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(NYSE:CMG) develops and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, which serve a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads. The company reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.03.
Though the investigations are still going on to find out which specific food is linked to illness, but CDC epidemiologist, who is leading the investigation revealed in an interview that “probably it isn’t a meat” because numerous people who were infected by food poisoning were vegetarians.
Infections are caused by oral contact to fecal matter, and symptoms include abdominal cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, fever and, in rare cases, can lead to death. “Illnesses started on dates ranging from October 19, 2015, to November 13, 2015”, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states. Now the outbreak has dispersed to total nine states, bringing the total number of 52 reported illness, out of which 47 are related to Chipotle. These are also the first two states that reported the initial cases of the outbreak.
The CDC also said illnesses that started after November 11 may not be reported yet.
Until now, after all the effort exerted by different agencies, it has not yet been confirmed as to what ingredient is the source of this outbreak.
Despite the massive press relations debacle Chipotle is facing following a series of E. coli outbreaks, the fast food chain has remained steadfast behind its so-called “diarrhea burrito”. Stock of the company dropped 8% in after-hour trading on Friday.
Chipotle says it is tightening its food safety standards after its restaurants were linked to dozens of cases of E. coli. It said it will implement testing of all produce before it is shipped to restaurants and enhance employee training for food safety and handling. “Through this high resolution testing program, we are making the haystacks smaller by working with smaller lots”, the company said.
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When looking at the charts for Chipotle Mexican Grill, the stock has been in a strong downtrend ever since reports of the E.Coli breakout surfaced. The company noted that its local produce program accounts for a “relatively small percentage” of the produce it uses, and only runs from around June through October in most parts of the country.
