“Unfortunately, that’s pretty normal”, Kaisner said.
Advertisement
The July outbreak had ended by the time the health department investigated, and officials found no evidence of an ongoing problem, said Duchin, who noted that the two cases involved different E. coli strains.
Chipotle said Tuesday it plans to start reopening its closed restaurants in the Northwest.
Rather, it’s to the contrary, they said.
Chipotle has replaced all ingredients in the closed restaurants.
“A scare like this, I think they’ll do better now”.
“To date, Chipotle has received almost 900 test results, all of which showed no E. coli”, the restaurant chain said.
Osterholm said such lawsuits will force the company to answer questions like whether it visited the farms where its produce was grown and if it gets outside help with food quality and safety. Note: No Chipotle employees have had E. coli stemming from this incident. But the company voluntarily closed all of them on a temporary basis.
County public health food safety inspectors will visit each restaurant to verify these actions.
That person, however, did not eat at Chipotle, Washington health officials said.
The latest rash of food poisonings represents the fourth outbreak linked to Chipotle restaurants this year, Marler said.
In August, 80 people fell ill with norovirus after eating at a Chipotle restaurant in California. Health officials say produce items are among the suspects. “And that’s what drives me insane”.
While numerous cases are from illnesses contract from home, often due to poor cooking practices or cross contamination, a lot of them happen at restaurants too, as can be seen by the near constant reports of outbreaks throughout the year at various restaurant chains or grocery stores.
Six of the cases were reported in King County, though no Renton store has been associated with the outbreak. Most complained of suffering bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Ten of these people were hospitalized; no Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) complications or deaths have been reported. Menu items identified as high risk will be tested before being sent to restaurants, and all fresh produce will be carefully rinsed and sanitized.
No Chipotle locations outside of OR and Washington have been connected to this issue in any way. Meanwhile inside, a uniformed crew wiped down countertops and equipment. Protocol changes prompted by such outbreaks can be good for public safety in the long run, they added.
Advertisement
In October a severe E. coli outbreak affected a total of 43 people out of which 28 were in Washington and 15 in Oregon. “We only make dramatic changes when we’ve been hit in the head with a 2-by-4 once or twice”.
