Chipotle to reopen this week after E. coli outbreak

Health officials in Washington and OR have said that more than three dozen people have gotten sick with E. coli in an outbreak lin…

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.

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson). Workers clean inside a still-closed Chipotle restaurant Monday, November 9, 2015, in Seattle. “We’re trying to trace it back to a few product on the menu that was distributed to the Northwest stores and wasn’t sent to the rest of the USA”, Hedberg said.

“These things just happen from time to time”, said Gilham, who stopped by the restaurant with his team from work.

The five people dined at Chipotle in late July, Apa said.

In OR, where six Chipotle restaurants have been implicated in the Portland area, health officials said nearly 25 food samples have been tested and no E. coli was found, though more tests are still pending. In 1993, one of the first reported massive E. coli outbreaks stemming from undercooked hamburgers at fast-food chain Jack in the Box sickened 500 people, prompting Detwiler years later to dub the incident as “the 9/11 of the food industry”.

The company said it has beefed up testing of produce and fresh meat at all units nationwide to go above and beyond what’s required, and implemented additional food safety procedures and audits. Chipotle did its own testing and said it did not find any food contaminated by E. coli.

Since the company announced the closure of restaurants up to Monday’s close, Chipotle’s shares had fallen almost 5 percent. The outbreak not only affected hundreds of people in the northwestern United States but also claimed the lives of four children, including Detwiler’s 16-month-old son, Riley.

“The safety of our customers and integrity of our food supply has always been our highest priority”, Chipotle chairman Steve Ells stated.

The restaurants will begin reopening on Wednesday, according to Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold. “Maybe if they’d gone public, we could’ve avoided this outbreak”.

“I was very anxious to get back”, Black said outside a Seattle Chipotle. Protocol changes prompted by such outbreaks can be good for public safety in the long run, they added.

Chipotle shuttered its doors to 43 of its locations last month after an outbreak of E. coli bacteria sickened 42 people, resulting in the hospitalization of 14. Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG)’s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports.