The two E. coli outbreaks that were linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants appear to be over, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The outbreaks affected more than 50 people in 14 states.
The CDC, however, said that it could not identify the ingredient that was responsible for the bacterial contamination even after studying the outbreak for 3 months. The agency said 55 people were affected in the first E. coli outbreak linked to Chipotle. That outbreak spread across 11 states. A second, smaller outbreak involved a different strain of E. coli and affected five people in three states.
The announcement by the CDC helped the popular Mexican restaurant chain's stock price, sending shares up by 4%. However, Chipotle's stock has fallen nearly 30% since October 2015, when the first case of E. coli was reported. Some shareholders have sued the company.
Chipotle has been dealing with several closely spaced outbreaks of food-borne illnesses since October. In addition to outbreaks of illness from E. coli bacteria, the restaurants were linked to outbreaks of norovirus. The outbreaks have given the restaurants a bad name and led to a federal criminal probe. The company was served with a subpoena last month in a federal criminal probe linked to a norovirus outbreak in California in August.
The CDC believes that a common item or ingredient was the most likely source for both E. coli outbreaks. Samples of many food items were collected from several Chipotle restaurants in different locations, but testing of the samples did not show the presence of E. coli bacteria, the CDC said. The most recent E. coli illness reported to the CDC occurred in early December, according to the agency.
Chipotle said last month it was confident that it has taken steps intended to increase food safety. The steps were made to stop future food poisoning outbreaks.
You can read the CDC's statement about the E. coli outbreaks here.
