CDC investigating new E.coli strain linked to Chipotle

Chipotle co-CEO Steve Ells has told The Associated Press he doesn’t think the company will ever know for sure the exact ingredient that sickened customers in the larger outbreak, but that he believes it was bacteria in fresh food like tomatoes or cilantro.

An outbreak of E. coli linked to rotisserie chicken salad sold by warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp appears to be over, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday.

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.

“One of the challenges here has been that we have been able to identify the restaurants where people ate, but because of the way Chipotle does its record-keeping, we have been unable to figure out what food is in common across all those restaurants”, said Dr. Ian Williams, chief of the outbreak response and prevention branch of the CDC. The company is in the process of implementing these programs. Five ill people have been identified in Kansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma and all five reported eating at a Chipotle restaurant in the week before their illnesses started, said the regulator.

Chipotle’s shares slumped as much as 4.6 percent to $498.20 Tuesday in NY.

“Chipotle’s food safety issues seem to have exposed deficiencies in the chain’s supply testing protocol, particularly as it – like Yum China – manages hundreds of small suppliers”, David Palmer of RBC Capital Markets said in a December 7 report.

Because it is not known if these infections are related to the larger, previously reported outbreak of STEC O26 infections, these illnesses are not being included in the case count for that outbreak. The school said it was working with local health officials to determine the cause of the illness.

Each year, about 48 million people get sick from foodborne illnesses, according to the CDC. The restaurant chain hired IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group to help refine its procedures. The safety program will involve DNA testing of all fresh produce and end-of-shelf-life testing to ensure that ingredients are safe to consume. The cause of the E. coli contagion still hasn’t been found. “With all of these programs in place, we are confident that we can achieve a level of food safety risk that is near zero”.