CDC Probing Another Chipotle-Linked E. Coli Outbreak

Two people from Kansas and North Dakota dined at the same Chipotle restaurant in Kansas, and three others dined at the same Chipotle restaurant in Oklahoma.

If the latest E. coli cases are determined to be separate from the previously reported ones, it would mark the sixth Chipotle-related disease outbreak since July, including a salmonella incident involving tomatoes that sickened 64 people in Minnesota.

CEO Steve Ells would not say how much the new testing along its supply chain and safety protocols inside its restaurants are costing the chain of more than 1,900 casual Mexican restaurants. 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.

TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. Spokesman Chris Arnold said in an email Monday that the chain is in the process of implementing those programs, which include increased testing and food safety training for workers.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating an outbreak of E. coli that appears linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. Twenty people have been hospitalized in that outbreak. The most recent of the illnesses reported by the CDC started November 13.

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.

“Chipotle really needs to get its act together”, said Bill Marler, who represented 9-year-old Brianne Kiner, the most severely injured survivor of the Jack in the Box E.coli outbreak in 1993. The company is also working with outside food experts.

This newer outbreak is a rare DNA fingerprint of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26. “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.

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.

Chipotle fell 3.6 percent to 521.71 in the stock market Monday, Investors.com reported.

The CDC also said that a new case of E.coli was reported in Pennsylvania, but noted that the person had not eaten at a Chipotle restaurant.

About 48 million people get sick from a foodborne illness each year, according to the CDC.