Chipotle Changes Cooking Methods, Recipes after E. coli Outbreak

Chipotle Mexican Grill will be changing its cooking methods and recipes amid the recent E. coli outbreak.

Employees at Chipotle will now have to dip all onions, jalapenos, lemon and limes in boiling water before they get chopped to destroy the germs. All of the raw onions will be marinated in bags instead of bowls. Cilantro will be added into just-cooked rice to kill microbes.

Other changes include:

-Cheese will be pre-shredded before it arrives to the restaurants.

-For every 2,000 pounds of steak, 60 samples will have to be tested prior to shipment. A similar testing program will be put in place for chicken.

-Fresh produce, like tomatoes, will now be chopped at a central location and then sent to the restaurants. The produce will also be tested at the location before they are sent to the restaurants.

"When you're given a project like this, you look at the universe of hazards," said Mansour Samadpour, CEO of IEH Laboratories, the company that was hired by Chipotle to help make food practicing procedures stricter.

The changes came after several Chipotle locations were linked to E. coli. A total of 53 people suffered from an E. coli infection in the first outbreak back in October and November. A second outbreak was reported last week sickened five.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not found the trigger of the outbreak. Chipotle also was not able to pinpoint the culprit.

A Chipotle in Boston was also tied to another outbreak involving norovirus that was not linked to the E. coli outbreaks. That Chipotle has since been reopened.