Chipotle is still recovering from the bad PR brought about by E. coli and food poisoning.

The CDC reported that as of Dec. 2, 52 people from nine states have been sickened, 20 have been hospitalized, and there are no deaths.

Symptoms of E. coli infection include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting.

Chipotle has apologized for these cases and have been striving to fix the mistake. They have since closed 43 of their restaurants that were affected and performed a deep clean on any of the locations that they did not close.  They have also teamed up with two prominent food safety consultant firms to guarantee that they are maintaining their high standards on food safety.

Mrs. Bone, the Bob Jones culinary teacher, provided a list of safe protocol for food preparation:

• Purchase ingredients from reputable suppliers
• Wash hands after each task in the kitchen
• Clean and sanitize all surfaces after each task
• Wash and sanitize all equipment thoroughly after each task
• Store food according to food safety guidelines
• Cook food to correct internal temperatures.
• Do not cross-contaminate foods by adding newly prepared foods to containers that still contain food prepared at an earlier time.
• Sick employees should not be attending work and especially not working with food.
• Do not cross contaminate food during preparation.

Aaron DeCoux, a senior, said, “I would still eat there.  I ate Chipotle the day before they announced it, and I was like, ‘I’m not worried.'”  Riley Cushing said, “I would still eat at Chipotle, but with reservation.”

On the other hand, some students refuse to eat at Chipotle and will instead go to somewhere like Moe’s and Taco Bell.  In order to win back their business, Chipotle needs to stay out of the headlines.