Thirty seven people in Oregon and Washington have been struck by the E. coli virus and there are speculations that the source is the popular Mexican food chain, Chipotle. There is currently no evidence that the virus came from Chipotle, but most of the people who had the virus had eaten there before getting sick.

1. coli is a virus that is obtained when a person consumes food that has been contaminated with human or animal excrement. Symptoms of E. coli include vomiting, bloody diarrhea and stomach cramps. In some cases E. coli can be fatal, but in most cases the virus lasts from one to ten days.

USA Today claims that health officials are still running tests to determine whether or not Chipotle is in fact the cause of this E. coli outbreak.

But meanwhile Chipotle is doing everything they can to help stop and solve the problem. Chipotle is beginning to run food safety tests on their distribution centers as well as the food in their restaurants. They have also employed two food safety consulting firms in order better their food safety system. Chipotle has also closed a total of forty three of their restaurants in both Oregon and Washington.

Co-CEO Steve Ells stated:

“The safety of our customers and integrity of our food supply has always been our highest priority. We work with a number of very fresh ingredients in order to serve our customers the highest-quality, best-tasting food we can. If there are opportunities to do better, we will push ourselves to find them and enhance our already high standards for food safety. Our deepest sympathies go out to those who have been affected by this situation and it is our greatest priority to ensure the safety of all of the food we serve and maintain our customers’ confidence in eating at Chipotle.”

They claim that there is no need to fear eating at your local Chipotle. Only eight out of the forty two restaurants they closed are supposedly linked to the virus. The rest of the chains that are still open are safe to eat at.

Chipotle confirms on their website,

“There are no confirmed links to any other Chipotle restaurants and no reports of related illnesses elsewhere.”

Chipotle is known for their care and attention to providing the best ingredients for their customers. This E coli outbreak is making the public question Chipotles promises of using the best products. But nothing can be said until the test results come in.

Sources:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/11/03/chipotle-e-coli-washington-oregon-lawsuit/75095214/

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/11/05/454859976/cdc-investigating-as-e-coli-outbreak-linked-to-chipotle-sickens-39

https://www.chipotle.com/update