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 Shares of the burrito chain, which has been under a microscope since
it was linked to a string of food safety lapses in 2015, fell 4.5
percent to close at $356.05 on Thursday.
Chipotle has worked to win back customers and rebuild the reputation
of the once-high flying chain, whose stock traded well above $700
before it was connected to E. coli, Salmonella and Norovirus
outbreaks in 2015.
Testing confirmed Norovirus in one customer who ate at the Virginia
Chipotle restaurant that was briefly closed this week following
reports of diners falling ill, said Victor Avitto, environmental
health supervisor for the Loudoun County Public Health Department,
which has jurisdiction over the restaurant.
Chipotle closed the restaurant on Monday and reopened it on
Wednesday, following a deep cleaning. News of the outbreak came
after more than 100 diners reported symptoms on iwaspoisoned.com, a
crowd-sourced website.
Chipotle expected the confirmation, since the symptoms described by
customers of the Sterling restaurant were consistent with Norovirus,
spokesman Chris Arnold said.
Norovirus is the No. 1 cause of illness from contaminated food in
the United States, resulting in an estimated 19 million to 21
million illnesses annually, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. It is highly contagious and can spread from
person to person, as well as through food prepared by an infected
person. Symptoms include cramping, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
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Elsewhere, a customer video showing three rodents in a Chipotle
restaurant in Dallas' West End neighborhood earlier this week was
widely shared online.
Other diners, who witnessed the lunchtime incident, told a local
television station they saw rodents falling from the restaurant's
ceiling.
"A few mice did get inside one restaurant from outside due to a
small structural gap in the building," Chipotle's Arnold said on
Thursday.
"Our management immediately removed them and the gap was quickly
repaired," said Arnold, who added that the chain had contacted
guests to apologize.
Chipotle will report second-quarter results on July 25.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Boston; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli
and James Dalgleish)
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