(Reuters) - Chipotle Mexican Grill stores will be closed for four hours on Monday for a nation-wide meeting for its restaurant employees on food safety, after several outbreaks of food-borne illnesses linked to the chain.

Chipotle, whose sales and stock has been hammered by outbreaks of E. Coli and Norovirus linked to its chain, said in a tweet on Monday it would be live tweeting the meeting to discuss recent and future food safety.

The company, whose meeting is scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. ET, also said the event would be streamed on Twitter Inc's Periscope app at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Shares of the popular burrito chain were down marginally in early trading on Monday.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)