On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control reported that the outbreak has spread from six states to nine in all.
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Sales are way down at Chipotle Mexican Grill as E. coli outbreaks have possibly concerned customers about eating the food at the popular chain famous for its burritos, according to a Reuters report.
In addition, Chipotle said it expects to spend between $6 million and $8 million to replace food, send food samples for analysis, test restaurants and consult with advisers. The agency has not yet determined the ingredient responsible.
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.
Most infected people get diarrhea and abdominal cramps. While the symptoms resolve in about a week for most, there are more vulnerable people that can develop kidney failure, or even death. Of these, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die, according to the CDC.
Earlier Friday, Chipotle had said it was tightening its food standards.
For the final three months of the year, it said it expects sales to be down between 8 to 11 percent at established locations if trends continue.
Chipotle’s stock slid more than 7 percent in after-market trading.
“In testing for pathogens, in many ways you’re looking for needles in haystacks”.
Chris Arnold, a spokesman for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., said the company’s local produce suppliers may not all be able to meet the new standards. “Through this high resolution testing program, we are making the haystacks smaller by working with smaller lots”, the company said. Its shares have dropped 25 percent since mid-October.
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Chipotle has not yet said how sales have been affected by the bad publicity from the E. coli outbreak, but said it would provide a financial update before its presentation at the Bernstein Consumer Summit on Tuesday. This program includes the process of testing the quality of food, especially the fresh produce, before sending it to their branches. If a number of menu items share ingredients, it can be hard to pinpoint which is the culprit for the outbreak, he noted.
