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CDC: Chipotle E coli issues are over

When a restaurant serves foods featuring several ingredients that are mixed or cooked together and then used in multiple menu items, it can be more difficult for epidemiologic studies to identify the specific ingredient that is contaminated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

February 1, 2016

The Chipotle E. coli outbreaks are officially over, accordingto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which released a statement confirming the illnesses, reported in December, likely stemmed from a common meal item or ingredient served at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. The investigation did not identify a specific food or ingredient linked to illness, however.

The investigation

State and local public health officials interviewed ill people to obtain information about foods they might have eaten and other exposures in the week before their illness started. In the initial, larger outbreak, 47 (87 percent) of 54 people interviewed reported eating at a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant. This included at least 17 different restaurant locations in eight states. In the smaller outbreak, five (100 percent) of five people interviewed reported eating at a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant. All three ill people in Oklahoma ate at a single Chipotle location in that state. The ill person in North Dakota traveled to Kansas during the exposure period and ate at the same Chipotle location as the ill person in Kansas.

The data collected during interviews with ill people indicated most ate a meal at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in the week before illness started, and they ate many of the same items. The Oregon and Washington Departments of Health conducted epidemiologic studies in the initial outbreak that compared foods eaten by ill and well people at Chipotle Mexican Grill. Those studies did not identify any specific food item or ingredient that could explain the outbreak. When a restaurant serves foods with several ingredients that are mixed or cooked together and then used in multiple menu items, it can be more difficult for epidemiologic studies to identify the specific ingredient that is contaminated, according the CDC.