Chipotle Mexican Grill, the company known to incorporate organic ingredients and antibiotic-free meat, is reopening 43 of its restaurants in Washington and Oregon, Reuters reported.
This is weeks after the reported E-coli outbreak, which left dozens of sick people in eight of its restaurants. The company voluntarily closed to make way for investigations, thorough cleaning and replacing of stocks.
Investigations by the Washington Health Department found no direct link to a specific food source. A statement by Washington Health officials stated, "Food outbreak investigations do not always identify a specific food source. A common reason for this is that the contaminated food source was consumed before the food samples were collected."
In a statement made by Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, he pointed out the limited menu offered in the restaurant delayed the detection of the source.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a statement pointing out that Shiga of toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 may be connected to the outbreak. Statistics from CDC indicated 42 people fell ill, 27 from Washington and 15 from Oregon. Laboratory test confirmed that 23 isolates from those infected tested positive from Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 (STEC O26) containing the same DNA footprint.
In a statement made by Steve Ells, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle, he said, "The safety of our customers and integrity of our food supply has always been our highest priority."
He also added, "If there are any opportunities for us to do better in any facet of our sourcing or food handling - from the farms to our restaurants - we will find them. We are sorry to those affected by this situation, and it is our greatest priority to ensure that we go above and beyond to make certain that we find any opportunity to do better in any area of food safety."
The Chipotle chain of restaurants is in the process of restocking their organic produce, have their meats and dairy tested to prevent re-occurrence of the incident. It also plans to do the same in its stores within the country.
Symptoms of E-coli infection are usually manifested 3-4 days after consuming infected food. However, there are cases when it takes up to 10 days before manifestation. Infections from the Shiga toxin, allegedly found in Chipotle's meats, can occur 2-8 days after exposure. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps, according to CDC.
Following the incident and its closure, Chipotle shares declined by 5 percent.
