“The food item that caused was distributed and served at the end of October that caused the illness is probably no longer at that Chipotle restaurant, it’s already been consumed or disposed of because we have not identified any subsequent cases and neither have the health departments in the other five states”, Gale Burstein, Erie County Commissioner of Health, said.
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Chipotles in Washington and OR were reopened last week after both the restaurant and the CDC found no E. coli present in the food items tested, the CDC said in an update November 12.
The CDC said 45 people have gotten food poisoning from the E. coli O26 outbreak strain, and of those, 43 reported eating at Chipotle.
Seattle attorney Bill Marler, who is representing almost three dozen people affected by the outbreak in OR and Washington state, told Reuters the increase in reported cases raises the likelihood that the culprit will be identified. The CDC said 96 percent of the sickened individuals reported eating at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in the week before their illness started.
The Chipotle E. coli outbreak has now spread to six states, ranging from OR to NY, the CDC said.
The Chipotle in Turlock was open for business Friday.
Chipotle said in a statement that investigators have suggested that it is not unusual to see additional cases as an investigation moves forward. The restaurant chain voluntarily closes 43 sites in the two states. While no deaths have been reported so far, 16 people have been hospitalized.
In response to this incident, Chipotle has taken aggressive steps to make sure its restaurants are as safe as possible. Previously, the situation was associated with just OR and Washington. Similar actions are immediately being taken in response to these newly reported cases.
The CDC is still unsure which food is linked to the illness. Specifically, the company is expanding testing of key ingredients, examining all of its food-safety procedures to find any opportunity for improvement, and is working with two renowned food safety scientists to assess all of its food safety programs, from the farms that provide its food to its restaurants. We offer our sincerest apologies to those who have been affected.
Abdominal cramps and diarrhea are the two most commons symptoms of STEC, and usually appear within three to four days after a person has eaten contaminated food.
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According to the CDC, there are about 48 million cases of food-related illness in the USA annually, including 265,000 cases of E. coli.
