More bad news for Chipotle

According to a news release, Chipotle confirmed that three people sickened in Oklahoma ate at 765 Asp Ave.in Norman.

The seven-state E. coli outbreak linked to Costco’s chicken salad is over, with officials still unable to determine the root cause. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income and notable return on equity. The company also is improving internal training to ensure that all employees are able to maintain food safety standards. It did not show the outbreak strain of E. coli.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday it is investigating five new cases of a “different, rare DNA fingerprint” of the Shiga toxin E.coli O26. Finally, Sterne Agee CRT lowered Chipotle Mexican Grill from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $766.00 price target on the stock.in a research report on Monday, November 23rd.

Chipotle said it is in the process of implementing new measures to improve food safety.

“Since this issue began, we have completed a comprehensive reassessment of our food safety programs with an eye to finding best practices for each of the ingredients we use, ” Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman, said Tuesday in an emailed statement.

“While it is never possible to completely eliminate all risk, this program eliminates or mitigates risk to a level near zero, ” he said earlier this month. (NYSE:CMG) develops and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, which serve a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads.

“This series of outbreaks with one chain has everyone, including my friends at the CDC, scratching their heads”, he said on CNBC Tuesday. Chipotle was also recently hit with a norovirus outbreak at a restaurant in Boston that sickened more than 150 customers. But the company warned earlier this month that it now expects sales to fall sharply in the fourth quarter because of the E. coli concerns. The slide could extend even longer, if history is any indication.

After Chipotle was linked to the E. coli contagion in October, it temporarily shut down locations in Washington state and Oregon.

CDC is investigating the new E. coli cases, but it is unknown at this time whether this current outbreak is linked to the original outbreak that sickened 53 people and caused the burrito chain to close more than 50 locations in Western United States.