An E. coli outbreak linked to Chipotle restaurants in Washington state and Oregon has sickened nearly two dozen people in the third outbreak of foodborne illness at the popular chain this year.
Cases of the bacterial illness were traced to six of the fast-casual Mexican food restaurants, but the company voluntarily closed down 43 of its locations in the two states as a precaution — all those in Washington state and in the Portland, Oregon, area.
Three people in the Portland area and 19 people in western Washington have gotten sick with E. coli as of Friday. Seventeen of them had eaten at a Chipotle restaurant during the past few weeks. Eight people have been hospitalized but no deaths have been reported.
Health officials are investigating the cause of the outbreak. The source was most likely a fresh food product because it probably could not be traced to one sick individual or one instance of cross-contamination of food since the cases are connected with various restaurants, said Marisa D’Angeli, medical epidemiologist with the Washington State Department of Health.
The company is not planning to close any other restaurants in other states because there is no evidence of a link to other locations, company spokesman Chris Arnold said. Reopening the shuttered locations in Oregon and Washington will depend on the investigation, he said.
“Right now, that is the priority,” Arnold said.
Health officials expect the number of illnesses to rise as more people hear about the outbreak and go to the doctor.
D’Angeli encouraged anyone who has been sick with intestinal symptoms and has eaten at Chipotle since mid-October to go see their doctor and get tested. She also said anyone with bloody diarrhea should go to the doctor whether they have eaten at Chipotle or not.
Chipotle has faced other recent foodborne outbreaks. A salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes sickened dozens of people in Minnesota beginning in August, according to state health officials. In California, health workers said norovirus sickened nearly 100 customers and employees at a Chipotle restaurant in Simi Valley in mid-August.
A food safety lawyer who is involved in other lawsuits against Chipotle says people should not assume a company that focuses on local and fresh ingredients is going to be immune from food safety issues.
“People shouldn’t have a false sense of security that local means safer,” said Bill Marler of Seattle law firm Marler Clark.
Marler, who built his national reputation with the 1993 E. coli outbreak at Seattle Jack in the Box restaurants, said, “Having three problems in a couple of months means that Chipotle is not paying attention to food safety like it should.”
In the Northwest outbreak, the investigation started with talking to everyone diagnosed with E. coli and finding out what they ate and where. Test samples from those individuals will go to state labs in Washington and Oregon.
Then, samples of food from the restaurants will be tested at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration laboratory to see if bacteria from the food matches the human cases.
People have reported symptoms of E. coli infection in Clackamas and Washington counties in Oregon, and Clark, King, Skagit and Cowlitz counties in Washington.
There are hundreds of E. coli and similar bacteria strains in the intestines of humans. Most are harmless, but a few can cause serious problems.
Symptoms of E. coli infection include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting. Health officials say the best defense against the bacterial illness is to thoroughly wash hands with soap and water.
Shares of Chipotle tumbled almost 3 percent in early trading Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Interesting that Chipotle has had so many problems like that ever since they announced last winter, that they would not be using any food products that contain any GMO ingredients. Big Ag–Big Food (controlled by the evil Monsanto, Cargill, Archer, Daniels Midland, Syngenta, etc.) must have been angered by the “rebellion” of little Chipotle chain and fearful of it spreading. How difficult would it be for someone who was bent on hurting Chipotle to make sure that they got contaminated produce? One incident is an accident. Several incidents is not.
Go back to sleep, Jay, and cease contaminating society with your so-called “thoughts.” Better yet, contain your conspiracy theories to important issues such as JFK’s assassination, the airliner crash in the Sinai and government coverup of UFO visitations.
Should we be asking ourselves this question? Is this outbreak because of what Chipotle did or did not do or is there underlying circumstances. Could it be a direct attach on the leader of organics in the fast food industry. Could it be these non label groups, could it be Monsanto themselves? I for one believe it is an outside assault on Chipotle and will continue to support their company. When those that are making big money don’t have it their way or their profits are threatened, they can pay to have anything done in order to bring back the people so they will once again put money in their pockets. Food for thought.
Lois, please meet Jay Bell. Jay, this is Lois Dolan. You two should get along well, since small conspiratorial minds think alike.
Hang in there Jay and question everything. Don’t worry about people like Jay. People like that are part of the system and question nothing. Nothing wrong with that as long as they accept whatever consequences, without compliant.
Tommy, Tommy, Tommy–with virulence like that, one would almost think you were being paid by Big Ag-Big Food. They do that you know. A number of corporations pay people to make slanderous accusations against those who raise concerns. Their favorite tactic is to label them as, “conspiracy theorists”. It is relatively easy to do and it pays per comment.
GMOs are deadly and Monsanto is in the midst of litigation over them already. I predict there will be a lot more and all of the politicians that Monsanto has hired to protect their interests will not be able to protect them:
“In March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is the research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), determined glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, to be a “probable carcinogen” (Class 2A).”
There will be a lot of class-action suits–bet on it!