Chipotle Had Another E. Coli Outbreak And Didn’t Tell The Public

http://ift.tt/1yCVFS1

You’ve most likely heard by now about the Chipotle food poisoning outbreak in the Pacific Northwest, which drew attention out of proportion to its size because of the company’s reaction: closing all restaurants in the Seattle and Portland areas for a week and a half, starting on Halloween, after they learned about the recent outbreak. What the public didn’t know was that there was another, smaller outbreak in July. It was over so quickly that officials never announced it.

Food poisoning outbreaks in restaurants are publicized so victims know to come forward, and have some idea where their sudden bloody diarrhea a week after eating that burrito bowl may have come from. In the case of this five-person outbreak, officials told the Oregonian.

The July outbreak put a higher proportion of diners in the hospital: Instead of maybe a quarter of patients, two out of five or 40% of people who reported their illness or sought mdical attetion at a hospital. These patients would have suffered briefly at home, but not been tested or reported.

Chipotle cooperated with the investigation, letting inspectors check test equipment, food, and even tested employees. The strain was E. coli O26, but inspectors weren’t able to find it in any ingredients or on any surfaces. By the time authorities tracked the pathogen to Chipotle, the
incubation period for the disease was over, and there was no point in alerting the public. Right? Experts aren’t sure.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist