As Chipotle plans to reopen, E coli source still a puzzle

E coli bacteria
E coli bacteria

E coli bacteria, highly magnified., NIAID

An initial round of testing of food from several Chipotle restaurants has yielded no positive results for Escherichia coli O26—the outbreak strain—and the company said today that it has taken several safety steps and will reopen its temporarily closed restaurants in Oregon and Washington within the next few days.

Also, Oregon reported 1 additional case linked to the two-state outbreak, putting the total so far at 42.

The Washington State Department of Health (WSDH) yesterday cited the Food and Drug Administration as the source of the testing information. Federal officials have been assisting state and county health departments with the ongoing investigation.

Reopening plans, safety steps

Chipotle announced in a statement today that it would open all 43 restaurants in the Seattle and Portland, Ore., areas that it had voluntarily closed, which will be restocked with fresh ingredients. Eleven of the restaurants had ties to the outbreak.

The company said health officials have concluded that the incident poses no further risk and that Chipotle has taken several steps, such as deep cleaning and sanitizing all of its restaurants nationwide, confirming that none of its employees were sick with E coli O26, and implementing additional safety steps in all of its 2,000 locations.

Fresh produce, raw meat, cheese, and sour cream will be tested before restocking the closed restaurants, according to Chipotle, which added that it will enhance testing nationwide for produce and fresh meat.

The company's tests on food, surfaces, and equipment have turned up no positive samples, from the nearly 900 results received so far. Chipotle said it has retained two top food safety scientists to help it boost its food safety standards.

Steve Ells, Chipotle's chairman and co-chief executive officer, said in the statement, "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," he said.

Cases now total 42

In updates yesterday investigators said 1 more illness has been reported, edging the outbreak total to 42. Oregon reported the additional case, which raises its total to 15. Washington's total remained at 27.

The WSDH said the most recent case-patient ate at a Chipotle on Oct 24, and that although the risk for new exposures is very low, the illness number may fluctuate depending on the results of tests to determine of sick people were infected with the outbreak strain of E coli. It noted that tests are still in progress for four Washington patients.

The WSDH said the source of the outbreak might never be identified, because the contaminated source of food may have been consumed before samples were collected for testing.

Meanwhile, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) yesterday said Chipotle has agreed to its criteria for reopening restaurants, such as pre-testing high-risk foods and rinsing and sanitizing all fresh produce. It said an investigation by OHA epidemiologists suggests the outbreak began in early October.

The OHA said of 25 food samples collected, none tested positive for E coli.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update that 23 isolates from sick patients have now been uploaded to PulseNet, the national subtyping network. All had the same DNA fingerprint. So far there are no signs that Chipotle restaurants in other states are involved in the outbreak.

Of the 42 patients sickened in the outbreak, 14 were hospitalized, the CDC said. So far no cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially fatal kidney complication, have been reported.

See also:

Nov 10 Chipotle statement

Nov 9 WSDH statement

Nov 9 OHA statement

Nov 9 CDC update

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