The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that Two E. coli outbreaks that sickened 60 customers of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.
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In the second, smaller outbreak, five people were infected with a different strain of STEC O26 in three states. State and federal regulators who reviewed the company’s distribution records couldn’t identify a single item to explain the outbreak – and neither did testing food from multiple restaurants.
The company dealt with a total of six incidents previous year of food borne illnesses at its outlets, including e-coli, salmonella and norovirus outbreaks.
Two outbreaks of E. Coli were investigated at Chipotle restaurants. Citing unnamed sources, the Journal said investigators haven’t been able to determine the ingredient responsible for the contamination. The news sparked an increase Monday morning of 5 percent for Chipotle shares. UMB Bank raised its stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. The company plans an advertising and social media campaign to rehabilitate its image and convince customers that it’s safe to eat there. But no additional illnesses have been reported since December 1. However, Chipotle’s stock has fallen almost 30% since October 2015, when the first case of E. coli was reported.
Meanwhile, market research firm NPD Group said Monday that young adults have not abandoned Chipotle, despite the chain’s sharp declines in traffic. Several weeks later, norovirus sickened dozens at a Chipotle in Boston. (Chipotle) develops and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, which serve a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads.
Just over half of the 297 votes in a Post poll (154) favored eating at Chipotle despite the recent food-saftey concerns.
The outbreak forced Chipotle to announce it would shut stores on February 8 for a company-wide meeting.
The Denver-based Mexican restaurant chain has made significant changes to its food safety procedures, including chopping some vegetables at one central location and blanching onions to kill germs.
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Chipotle’s executives have been reassuring customers and investors that steps are being taken to tighten food safety at the popular burrito chain and that they would prevent future food poisoning outbreaks.
