Campus health officials found that the common link between the ill students was that they had eaten at the same Chipotle.
Advertisement
However, officials did make it clear that no specific illnesses had yet been linked with these particular outlets – including the restaurant closed down at 212 Westlake Ave, South Lake Union. All came back negative for E. coli. Chipotle was already facing problems with having to raise menu prices due to the rising cost of labor, which were eating into its bottom line, and labor is only expected to cost more in the future.
The CDC has not yet determined the ingredient responsible for sickening 52 people in the E. coli outbreak, but 47 of the individuals reported eating at a Chipotle before they got ill.
However, the recent surge of sickness cases related to Chipotle has raised some serious health concerns regarding the safety standards of the brand. As Christmas season is coming and people are planning to go out for dinner with family and friends, they are counting other restaurants in the list to be visited, but not the Chipotle. The shares of the firm have taken a significant dive of nearly 30% over such a short period of time.
According to an InvestorPlace report, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s stocks have been significantly hammered since the last two months when the outbreak of E. Coli started. But Kings College student Schmid Peterly, 20, told the Daily News he has cut down his twice-a-week trips to Chipotle to twice per month.
“Work on our enhanced food safety program began immediately after reports surfaced at the end of October regarding the E.coli cases in Washington and OR”, the company said in a statement. As reported by The Food Chain, typical norovirus outbreaks do not include a large number of people. Though, the exact reason for the outbreak is still unknown, Steve assured that they are doing hard to identify the cause and to make sure that it won’t happen again.
The virus and bacteria outbreaks have afflicted hundreds in several states.
Advertisement
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., based in Denver, has more than 1,900 locations, primarily in the U.S. The company has already warned that sales are expected to fall as much as 11 percent at established locations for the fourth quarter as a result of bad publicity from the E. coli cases.
