CDC: More E. coli at Chipotle including in Kansas

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday afternoon stated that a rare DNA fingerprint of an E. coli strain was found in five people from three states.

The latest reported cases are being treated as a second outbreak while the CDC investigates whether it is linked to the previous illnesses first reported at the end of October. According to public health officials, lab tests confirmed the presence of norovirus at a Chipotle restaurant near Boston College campus, which had more than 120 students who felt ill after eating their meals. The person in North Dakota who was sickened ate at the same Chipotle restaurant as the ill person in Kansas.

Chipotle hired an outside company to help it revamp its sanitation practices after the earlier outbreak, the cause of which was never determined. “With all of these programs in place, we are confident that we can achieve a level of food safety risk that is near zero”, Arnold says.

At the same time, however, the CDC had some bad news.

Investors, and presumably diners, are spooked by the continued health issues that have seriously dented Chipotle’s wholesome image amongst its fast(ish) food competitors; the company’s stock price is down 30 percent from its August high of $757.77.

On December 16, Chipotle CEO Steve Ells and co-CEO Monty Moran talked to CNBC’s May Money; they said: “We can assure you today there is no E. coli in Chipotle”.

“We believe they are related, and are working with the CDC and FDA while they investigate, ” Arnold said.

Five people in those three states have become sick with a strain of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26 between November 18 and November 26.

The restaurant chain’s reputation had already suffered in recent weeks after 46 of 53 people sickened during an earlier E. Coli outbreak reported to have eaten at a Chipotle restaurant in the days before. Chipotle said that chains are in the process of increased testing of all of its ingredients and training workers more rigorously.

Recently, Chipotle shares have been getting pressured as the company has been grappling with numerous sicknesses linked to its restaurants. Six days later, Taylor Farms Pacific voluntarily recalled the celery and onion diced blend used in the Costco chicken salad and many other products containing celery, because they might be contaminated with E. coli.