Coli outbreak linked to Chipotle expands to Ohio

A multistate outbreak of E. coli linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants has reached California, where two people were sickened after eating at one of the food chain’s restaurants in the Stanislaus County town of Turlock, health officials said Friday.

As a response to all reported E. coli cases, Chipotle made moves to contain and remove the E. coli threat from all affected restaurants, the release says.

He said investigators think the outbreak is linked to an uncooked produce item, but they have yet to determine the specific ingredient linked to the illness. The CDC said 96 percent of the sickened individuals reported eating at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in the week before their illness started. There have been no deaths.

Chipotle reopened 43 restaurants last week in Washington State and OR, after deep cleaning the eateries and replacing food. Chipotle Mexican Grill is continuing to assist public health officials with understanding the distribution of food items served at locations where ill people ate. Then 13 come from OR, two from California, two from Minnesota, while OH and NY have each had one victim.

Due to the timing of the reports, Chipotle did not believe it was necessary to close those restaurants, according to the chain’s spokesman, Chris Arnold.

Of the 45 people sickened by the illness, 16 of them have been hospitalized.

The recent E. coli outbreak initially linked to Chipotle restaurants in the Pacific Northwest has hit Ohio.

“In Chipotle’s case, there are a lot of answers that need to be found”, Daren Detwiler, who works at Stop Foodborne Illness and is also an adjunct professor at Northeastern University in Boston, previously told the worldwide Business Times.

“We take this incident very seriously because the safety of our food and well being of our customers is always our highest priority”, said Steve Ells, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle.

Although E. coli infection can have only minimal effect on healthy adults, it can be harmful on older people, children, and those with low immune system.

It was not immediately clear whether the outbreak is contained to Chipotles, or if contaminated food may have been supplied to other restaurants as well.

Chipotle is also taking significant steps to be sure all of its food is as safe as possible.