Health officials want people who have eaten at a Chipotle restaurant during October 2015 and become ill with vomiting and bloody diarrhea to see their health care provider and mention this outbreak.
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Chipotle Mexican Grill Chairman Steve Ells said in a statement on Tuesday that the company closed 43 restaurants “out of an abundance of caution, even though only eight restaurants have drawn concern”.
State Health Officer Kathy Lofy says the 25 patients from our state are being interviewed about what they ate.
NBC News reports that the investigation into the E. coli outbreak is still in the early stages, and that it’s likely they will find that the E. coli “came from a fresh food product delivered to Chipotle restaurants and other places”.
The chain, which has more than 1,900 locations nationally and touts a slogan of “food with integrity”, said it is cooperating with authorities as they investigate.
People have reported symptoms of E. coli infection in Clackamas and Washington counties in Oregon, and Clark, King, Skagit and Cowlitz counties in Washington. Health officials are hopeful, but not certain, that the spread of the outbreak was halted when they closed the restaurants in Washington and the Portland, Oregon, area.
The company also says it is doing its own tests in restaurants and distribution centers. The following day she sought treatment, and a stool sample tested positive for shiga-toxin producing E. coli.
The recent outbreak marks the third case of food contamination at Chipotle since August.
If you have been sickened with an E. coli infection after eating at Chipotle restaurants in Washington state or Oregon, call our experienced lawyers for help.
As explained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most E. coli strains are generally harmless and can be found inside the intestine and aid in proper digestion.
“It wouldn’t surprise me to see more cases, and I’m being told that we have specimens cooking in the health laboratory, so we will be updating our case numbers daily”, Cieslack said. They say they may have more information as soon as Wednesday but it’s likely the full investigation will take more than a few days.
Chipotle has voluntarily closed at least 14 restaurants in the Portland area and all of its locations in Washington.
So far, the outbreak appears limited to Washington state and Oregon.
By Tuesday, state health officials had identified 12 residents of six Oregon counties who had either been confirmed to have been stricken with the bacteria or are highly suspected to have been infected. “There is no doubt that as a result of this E. coli outbreak consumers will question Chipotle’s food safety standards”.
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Most people’s symptoms of the outbreak include bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps within one to 10 days.
