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The E. Coli outbreak that has been associated with Chipotle originating in the Pacific Northwest has now expanded to the south and east too, infecting people in six states. The cases have emerged in California, Ohio and New York, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first cases of the outbreak were reported in Oregon and Washington, most recent being in Minnesota. The investigators are not certain what ingredient is causing the outbreak of illness, reports Denver Post

So far, there have been 45 reported cases of people being infected, out of which 43 say that they ate at Chipotle a week before they became inflicted with the disease. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. had shut down its 43 restaurants in Oregon and Washington following the discovery by health officials that their food is making people sick. Most people that are infected with E. Coli ate at their restaurant. Since its closing in October, it has reopened and is fully operational. The spokesman from Chipotle, Chris Arnold, said in an email, "At the moment, we do not believe that it is necessary to close any restaurants." He added that the company is taking additional measures to deep clean the restaurant, while replacing the ingredients as well as supplying the chain data to the investigators for their examination, reports WebMD.

Chipotle is a Denver based food chain with more than 1,900 stores that gained popularity because of being the freshest in the business and the quality of their ingredients. However, the trouble for the company began when a pork supplier violated the animal welfare standards. On Friday, when the news of the outbreak spread like wildfire, the Chipotle sales went down 12%. Bill Marler, Seattle attorney representing the people who fell sick by eating at Chipotle said, "It helps investigators link up to a perishable item. What they're really focusing on right now is the supply chain. What's the common denominator? Who supplied what product to these stores?", reports Manufacturing.net