Chipotle Reopens Restaurants After Outbreak

Chipotle has said it will reopen the 43 restaurants it closed in the US Northwest amid an E. coli outbreak that left about 40 people feeling sick.

Health officials say they have not found the cause of the outbreak that started last month.

But officials concluded there is no ongoing risk after tests of food at the Mexican food chain came back negative for the bacterium.

The bug was traced to 11 Chipotle restaurants in Oregon and Washington, but the company closed 43 in the region as a precaution.

Chipotle said on Tuesday it would reopen the restaurants over the next few days after giving them a deep clean and ordering a fresh supply of ingredients.

The company says it tested the food before restocking and is imposing extra safety procedures in all of its 2,000 restaurants to ensure robust food safety standards.

The health scare sent Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE: CMG - news) shares tumbling nearly 5% in the US, but they began to rebound in Tuesday morning trading.

This is the third food contamination scare to hit the chain recently.

In August, 80 people fell ill with norovirus after eating at a Chipotle restaurant in California.

A month later, it emerged tomatoes used by 22 branches in Minnesota had infected dozens of customers with salmonella, with some people left hospitalised.