Coli Cases at Chipotle

The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday revealed that five people in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Kansas contracted E. coli from November 18 to November 26 after eating at a Chipotle restaurant.

Over the last month or so, Chipotle has been dealing with the fallout from now two separate E. coli outbreaks traced to its restaurants.

“Consumers should contact a health care provider if they recently became ill with diarrheal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant”, CDC officials said in a statement.

The company says it is rolling out a new food safety plan that will “eliminate or mitigate risk to a level as near zero as possible”, although industry experts say Chipotle needs to give more details to show that its new plan will work.

Earlier, Boston College announced that its 140 students, including some basketball team members, fell ill after eating at a Chipotle.

A news release from Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said the three people who got sick in Oklahoma ate at the chain’s restaurant at 765 Asp Ave.in Norman between November 14 and November 23. The agency said it was “investigating another, more recent outbreak of a different, rare DNA fingerprint Shiga toxin producing E. coli” linked to Chipotle.

The outbreak had spread to seven states and sickened 19 people beginning October 6. The cause of the E. coli contagion still hasn’t been found. “We are moving very quickly on that and will share more information through marketing and communications outreach as things continue to develop”, told Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold as quoted saying by CNBC.

Chipotle says the changes will be put into place in the coming weeks.

It has said it will increase testing of produce before it is shipped to restaurants and improve employee training, among other changes.

BusinessweekA Chipotle burrito is on the new cover of Bloomberg Businessweek.