Chipotle to Reopen Restaurants Shuttered by E. Coli Outbreak

Some restaurants are expected to open by Wednesday or Thursday of this week, but the DOH said some restaurants could open later depending on whether or not they feel ready.

The company said all its outlets had tested negative for E. Coli and they would reopen in the coming days.

In OR and Washington, 39 people have tested positive with strands of E.coli after eating food from Chipotle Mexican Restaurants according to officials.

The company’s tests on food, surfaces, and equipment have turned up no positive samples, from the almost 900 results received so far.

The Oregon Health Authority had said on November 1 that three cases of E. coli in OR and at least 19 in Washington had been linked to eating at Chipotle restaurants since October 14. “Out of an abundance of caution, Chipotle voluntarily closed 43 restaurants in OR and Washington”, the restaurant chain said in its statement. Health officials said it was linked to the restaurant chain. The company says none of its employees in Washington or OR had E. coli infections, an indicator that food was contaminated before it entered the restaurants.

“I have no doubt in mind that the civil justice system does change behavior”, said Ryan Osterholm, a lawyer for Pirtzer Olsen in Minneapolis, which has filed lawsuits against Chipotle in the current case and a previous case in Minnesota.

This is the third outbreak of food contamination at Chipotle restaurants since August.

Workers clean inside a still-closed Chipotle restaurant Monday, November 9, 2015, in Seattle. At this time, health officials don’t think the case is related to the outbreak in OR and Washington. It is the same bacteria that was the cause of the outbreak in OR and Washington. “It is our greatest priority to ensure that we go above and beyond to make certain that we find any opportunity to do better in any area of food safety”.

The most common means that a person can get infected these days is when one consumes something prepared by someone who did not wash properly after using the bathroom.

“What you really need in order for the finger to be pointed at the source is for people to eat different things: People who eat A get sick and people eat B do not”, Schaffner explained to ABC News.

The department said it can cause bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever, and vomiting, and sometimes result in severe, life-threatening illness that can be fatal.