Chipotle hit with five new E. coli cases; may be different strain

The new cases were at restaurant locations in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill hit a 52-week low Monday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it is investigating another, more recent outbreak of a different strain of E. coli linked to the restaurant chain.

During the early days of the first outbreak, Chipotle said it expected to see reports of additional E. coli cases because there is a lag in time between contracting E. coli and the onset of symptoms and some consumers may not immediately report a sickness. However, that wasn’t the situation with the five new cases, which “were tied together based on their DNA fingerprint and then we went back and asked them if they had eaten at Chipotle”, he said.

Five ill people have been identified in Kansas (1), North Dakota (1), and Oklahoma (3).

“We are in the process of implementing reassessed programs including high-resolution testing of ingredients”, Chipotle said in an emailed statement on Monday. “This program eliminates or mitigates risk to a level near zero and will establish Chipotle as the industry leader in this area”, Samadpour said in a press release earlier this month. Arnold added that the company thinks the illnesses are connected to the larger, previously reported outbreak.

As sales faltering in recent weeks, Chipotle last week took out full-page ads in 61 newspapers around the country apologizing for the illnesses and reassuring customers of its commitment to tightening its food safety standards. There’s no word yet whether this outbreak is related to the bigger, original one that has since affected 53, including one new case from Pennsylvania. CEO Steve Ells has repeatedly assured customers that the company believes there is no E. coli now in its restaurants.

At least 80 students were sickened by norovirus after eating at a Boston area Chipotle outlet, the Boston Health Public Commission had said on December 9.

An estimated 265,000 Shiga toxin-producing E.coli infections occur each year in the USA, a lot of them non-0157, according to the CDC, which uses estimates because not all illnesses are diagnosed and reported.

Throughout the crisis, Chipotle executives have also stressed that the E. coli outbreak appeared to be limited to a period between October 19 and November 13.