Coli outbreak now covers six states

The Associated Press is reporting that the OH case was from a Chipotle in Akron.

An E.coli contamination scare linked to Chipotle has spread to six states, the Centers for Disease Control said Friday. The other states were OR at 13, California and Minnesota each at 2, and NY and OH each at 1.

According to the CDC, most of those who have been blighted by the illness come from Washington, as 26 people have been infected from this state. There have been no deaths.

The CDC said this evidence points to food from Chipotle as, “likely the source of the outbreak”.

“We don’t now know which specific food item is linked to the illness, so that’s still under investigation”, stated Burstein.

On November 10, the company announced (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chipotles-stock-climbs-after-company-says-it-will-reopen-seattle-portland-restaurants-2015-11-10) that it was reopening the Northwest restaurants after a deep cleaning and replacement of all ingredients.

Illnesses that occurred after October 31 might not be reported yet due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported, which can take 2-3 weeks, according to the CDC.

The burrito chain has expanded sharply, in part on the success of its own allure as a fresh and healthful restaurant with all the slogan: “Food with ethics”. Earlier this month, Chipotle voluntarily closed stores after the outbreak was detected in Washington state and Oregon. The recent E. coli outbreak at 43 of its location has spread to NY.

Chris Arnold, a spokesperson for Chipotle, said the company has no plan to close restaurants at this time. In order to try and combat this problem, Chipotle have also hired food safety consultants and they’ve made a decision to change their food preparation protocol too. “We are committed to taking any and all necessary actions to make sure our food is as safe as possible, and we are working diligently with the health agencies”, he said in a statement.

“We offer our sincerest apologies to those who have been affected”, Steve Ells, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle said.