OKLAHOMA CITY – After being forced to close its doors earlier this year due to an outbreak of E.coli, it seems Chipotle is back in the headlines for an outbreak.
Chipotle is still dealing with the fallout of an E. coli outbreak at several restaurants that made 52 people sick in nine states in October and November.
There was also a salmonella outbreak this year, followed by an outbreak of the norovirus.
According to a statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, five people infected with a different, rare DNA fingerprint of STEC 026 have been identified and appear to be linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill.
The victims consist of one person in Kansas, one person in North Dakota and three people in Oklahoma.
“All 3 Oklahoma ill people ate at a single Chipotle location in Oklahoma, and the North Dakota ill person traveled to Kansas during their exposure period and at the same Chipotle location as the Kansas ill person.”
A Chipotle spokesman told CNBC that the company is confident that it is improving.
“We have indicated before that we expected that we may see additional cases stemming from this, and CDC is now reporting some additional cases,” the spokesman said. “Since this issue began, we have completed a comprehensive reassessment of our food safety programs with an eye to finding best practices for each of the ingredients we use.”
Chipotle says the Oklahoma customers who became ill ate at the restaurant, located at 765 Asp Ave. in Norman.
Company officials say they have already implemented an enhanced food safety program to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“None of the ingredients in our restaurants today were present at the time of these illnesses. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have indicated that additional cases from similar time periods may still be reported as they make their way through various state health departments to the federal health officials,” a statement from Chipotle read.
