Coli outbreak is over, CDC says

The initial outbreak, which began in the Pacific Northwest, involved a strain of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli 026, or STEC026, and 55 people were reported ill in 11 states between October 19 and December 1, 2015. The second, smaller outbreak, infected five people from three states, of which one was hospitalized.

The federal Centers for Disease Control is expected to say the E. coli outbreak at Chipotle Mexican Grill is officially over, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Over the last few months, we have been implementing an enhanced food safety plan that will establish Chipotle as an industry leader in food safety”, Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle, said in a recent press release.

CDC investigators still don’t know which ingredient carried the foodborne illness, said the agency’s web site.

Two outbreaks of E. Coli were investigated at Chipotle restaurants.

Chipotle shares were up about 4.5% on Monday, closing at $472 at the end of trading.

The Chipotle-linked outbreaks led to a 30 percent drop in sales in December, according to the AP.

With this investigation closed, and the outbreak hopefully over, the cause of Chipotle’s particular strain of E. Coli looks likely to always remain a mystery. The final case count by state for the larger outbreak is: California (3), DE (1), IL (1), Kentucky (1), Maryland (1), Minnesota (2), NY (1), OH (3), OR (13), Pennsylvania (2), and Washington (27).

Chipotle is scheduled to report its holiday quarter earnings results on Tuesday, which should give a clearer picture of just how much damage the crisis did to the company’s sales and offer clues as to whether it expects that to continue into the next quarter.

So far, over 50 customers have fallen ill from the outbreak after eating at restaurants in nine states.

The investigation is related to a norovirus outbreak in August at a Simi Valley Chipotle restaurant.

When cases first emerged in 2015, the company shuttered dozens of restaurants and pledged to double-down on food safety protocols. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 7th.

In most cases the brands made a full recovery in the years after the food-safety scares.