In addition, cases were reported from Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania for the first time, bringing the number of states affected to nine.
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Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) stock slid late on Friday after the restaurant operator said an outbreak of the E. coli disease is set to drive comparable restaurant sales down 8% to 11% for the three months ending December 31, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
To prevent another E. Coli outbreak and other foodborne disease, Chipotle launched their brand new food safety program. Most infected people get diarrhea and abdominal cramps.
Two of the newly reported illnesses started in October, and five started in November, suggesting the outbreak was not as short lived as previously thought. RBC Capital restated an “outperform” rating and set a $825.00 price target (up from $740.00) on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th.
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.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. 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 investigation has not identified what specific food is linked to illness. Of these, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die, according to the CDC. The company said that it had hired IEH Laboratories in Seattle to help it to improve its procedures. Investigators suspect a fresh produce item that was shipped from one location to multiple restaurants.
Comparable restaurant sales are anticipated to fall between 8% and 11% for the 2015 fourth quarter after comparable store sales dropped 16% in November. “Through this high resolution testing program, we are making the haystacks smaller by working with smaller lots”, the company said. The stock was lower by close to 1 percent on the back of heavy volumes.
“We do expect that some of the local suppliers we have used will not meet more stringent testing standards we have put in place”, Arnold said.
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The restaurant chain said that it is continuing to work with federal, state and local health officials to investigate the outbreak.
