Boston’s count of Chipotle norovirus cases rises to 136

Health inspectors from the Seattle Health Department closed the restaurant after it found its meat, rice, and other ingredients were being kept at unsafe temperatures, and not just once but on three different occasions.

120 students at Boston College have become ill with Norovirus after eating at a nearby Chipotle location.

Whether it would be you or me, we all think twice before visiting the well-known Mexican chain restaurant Chipotle. The same store was closed temporarily last month following the E. coli scare. The company has noted the exposure period for the outbreak appears to have passed.

But he said Chipotle’s recovery will likely take longer given greater social media awareness.

Furthering the company’s hugely humiliating health-violation saga, the restaurant was shuttered on Thursday when food safety officials found evidence of multiple violations – for the third time in a row.

43 Chipotle restaurants in Washington state and OR, were voluntarily closed by the restaurant operators at the end of October following an E. coli outbreak.

NBC Chipotle CEO Steve Ells apologized for the outbreaks in his first public comments on them on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday. CNBC reported that Ells told the “Today” audience that the new food safety procedures “are so above industry norms that we are going to be the safest place to eat”. The state health department and CDC were notified, he said.

In addition to not keeping food hot enough, the Boston restaurant was cited for having a sick employee working on December 3, right before the weekend when the norovirus cases were reported.

Steven Senne/AP The company is cooperating with several state, local and national health agencies as it tries to assure customers at locations like this Brighton, Mass., location near the campus of Boston College.

However, the illnesses have led to a top-down review of safety practices at Chipotle, Ells said.

Diverting from the recent cases of E. coli sickness related with Chipotle restaurants, these students had in fact contacted norovirus and not the E. Coli infection as everyone had initially suspected.

A further nine Chipotle outlets were handed unsatisfactory ratings after being evaluated by Public Health Officials – Kent, Renton, Southcenter Mall, Downtown Seattle, Issaquah, Redmond, Woodinville and two in Bellevue.