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E. coli poisoning

Oregon official: Chipotle E. coli likely due to contaminated produce

Nathan Bomey, and Aamer Madhani
USA TODAY

An E. coli episode that has led to the temporary closure of 43 Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in the Pacific Northwest was likely caused by contaminated produce, an Oregon Public Health Division official said Monday.

Jonathan Modie, a spokesman for the Oregon Public Health Division, said that the agency has received at least 100 calls and e-mails from people who recently ate at a Chipotle in the state and became ill. So far, state health officials have only confirmed three cases of diners being sickened by E. coli.

"We are looking at everything but our epidemiology investigation is guiding us toward produce," Modie said. "Chipotle has meat products, but based on things we heard from people  who got sick...it seems like the most common denominator is some kind of vegetable course."

The food safety incident is also taking a bite out of the restaurant's stock. Shares of the fast-casual food chain's stock fell 2.5% to $624.00 in trading Monday after the the company temporarily closed restaurants in Oregon and Washington state while it investigates the matter.

The stock was already down 6.5% for the year at the end of last week, as investors had become concerned about slowing growth. Before the food safety scare, company officials had described sales in October as "very, very choppy."

Health officials reported Saturday that E. coli traced to meals purchased from Chipotle stores in the metro Portland area and several counties in Washington from Oct. 14-23 had sickened at least 22 people.

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About a third of the people have been hospitalized, and none have died.

Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said the company decided to close all of its stores in Oregon Washington "out of an abundance of caution" after health officials informed them of the situation. Arnold said that thus far only customers who ate food from eight of those restaurants have reported becoming ill.

"Produce is certainly a possibility, but we are not going to speculate on what the cause may be while the investigation is going on," Arnold said. "Right now, getting through the investigation is the priority and we continue to offer our full cooperation as that moves forward."

A spokeswoman at the Washington state Department of Health said the agency has yet to conclude the cause of the apparent E. coli outbreak.

Modie said more cases are expected to be confirmed in the coming days. Some people who become infected don't always realize the connection, but many recover without treatment.

Oregon health officials said Chipotle customers in Clackamas and Washington counties in Oregon, and Clark, King, Skagit and Cowlitz counties in Washington reported symptoms.

"Many people affected with Shiga toxin E. coli may not seek health care, so the number of people made ill by this outbreak is likely more than identified," the agency reported.

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Anyone who ate at those restaurants during that period and became ill with vomiting and bloody diarrhea should seek treatment and mention the possible connection to their physicians, state health officials said..

Health officials said that most people experience watery or bloody diarrhea and stomach cramps in one to 10 days.

This marks the third time this year that Chipotle restaurants have dealt with a major food safety problem.

In August, a Chipotle restaurant in Simi Valley, Calif. was temporarily closed after 80 customers and 18 employees reported systems of Norovirus. The restaurant was reopened after restaurant operators did a deep cleaning of the store.

Also in August, Minnesota health and agriculture officials reported an outbreak of salmonella among customers of 17 different Chipotle restaurants located primarily in the Twin Cities metro area. Minnesota Department of Health officials cited tomatoes as the cause of outbreak, which affected 64 customers. Nine of those sickened customers were hospitalized.

Chipotle has marketed itself as a more healthy option to fast food, touting itself as the first major national chain to eliminate genetically-modified ingredients from most of its menu. But with the latest food safety scare, the company which has more 1,900 restaurants is in danger of doing damage to its brand, said Bill Marler, a Seattle-based attorney who specializes in food safety cases.

"If I was the Chipotle CEO, I would be having my food safety team in my office yesterday asking, 'What happened and what do we need to do to make sure this doesn't happen again?" said Marler, who represents nearly 50 Chipotle customers who say they were sickened in the August food safety incidents in Minnesota and California. "I guarantee the cost of any change they need to make to make their food supply safer pales in comparison to the losses they have had in just the last 24 hours on their stock price."

Follow USA TODAY reporters Nathan Bomey and Aamer Madhani on Twitter @NathanBomey and @AamerIsMad.

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