CDC: Chipotle’s E. coli outbreak over

Chipotle has finally received the all clear from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) after E. coli outbreaks sickened dozens of customers in stores across multiple states, shattering confidence in the burrito chains food safety and taking a large bit out of its once soaring stock.

A Chipotle restaurant at Union Station in Washington is among those expected to receive the all-clear Monday when the CDC closes its investigation as to why people fell ill at the restaurants. No deaths have been reported.

Evidence collected during the investigation alleged that ” a common meal item or ingredient served at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants was a likely source of both outbreaks.

The company’s sales slid 30 percent, its stock price plummeted almost 40 percent. and at least nine lawsuits have been filed, including one for Chris Collins, a web developer in Lake Oswego. The chain shuttered 43 of its restaurants on November 1 after the initial outbreak with 22 people falling ill in Washington and OR, which quickly oozed across the nation like so much dripping queso.

CDC may soon declare that the E.coli outbreak related to Chipotle is over.

Chipotle has also been linked to norovirus outbreaks in Boston and Simi Valley, California.

It’s important to understand that while the E. coli outbreak was clearly a food-related thing, the Norovirus outbreak was related to a sick employee, not the company’s food-handling protocols, or something that could have been prevented with better safety procedures.

Now, Chipotle must reassure customers that it is safe to eat at its restaurants. In a bid to get customers back, the company is also starting to roll out targeted promotions and will launch a marketing campaign this month. “To win back the trust of their former customers, Chipotle will need to continually communicate all of the ways in which they are preventing any future outbreaks and prove to them that they able to deliver on their “food with integrity” promise”.

Following that 2012 decline, Chipotle spent the majority of 2013 and 2014 ripping to new all-time highs, eventually reaching 41 percent higher than its 2012 highs by the end of 2015.

Sales and stock at Chipotle took a hit after the outbreaks. “A review of Chipotle’s distribution records by state and federal regulatory officials was unable to identify a single food item or ingredient that could explain either outbreak”.