The CDC has published and completed their report on two E. coli outbreaks at several Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. The outbreaks were said to have made 55 people sick in 11 states in late 2015.
The CDC says that while “a common meal item or ingredient served at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants was a likely source of both outbreaks” their investigation “was unable to identify a single food item or ingredient that could explain either outbreak.”
Some theories have been suggested online that state that Chipotle was a victim of corporate sabotage by pro-GMO proponents, however, no evidence has been provided to support this theory.
Chipotle also experienced three other food-borne illness outbreaks in 2015. In August, 230 people in California became sick with norovirus, likely spread from a sick employee. In August and September there was a salmonella outbreak in Minnesota that made 64 people ill. And in December, a reported 136 people came down with norovirus traced back to Chipotle.
Chipotle has hired a consulting company to create a new food safety protocol of practices and testing.
Not to mention that when you go into the bathroom of ANY Chipotle restaurant they are always gross. Then they have that sign that says ALL employees must wash their hands. How do they do a good job of that when Chipotle never has hot water coming out of the faucets!
The newest thing I saw at one of their most recent builds was the trash can built into the same table that houses the utensils… the forks were like literally 6 inches away from the trash… I looked in there and sure enough random rice and who knows what else! Just silly planning and design. How does the Health Department not catch this stuff? Then there is the cold meat burrito you always get!
I have eaten there more times than I can count and I must admit, that I have seen with my own eyes, the unsanitary way the employees handle the food. I am very susceptible to viruses and have gotten ill after I have eaten there. Most of the workers are very young and seem to not care. It is usually dirty, including the table tops and underneath the tables always have food laying around. Should I bother to mention the accumulation of flies, both dead and alive flocking around the window sills? The absolute worst though, is the fact that I see the hair of the employees hanging and they touch all kinds of stuff with a gloved hand then, will touch the food…seeming to forget that just because they have gloves on doesn’t negate the fact that after touching other things, the gloves are now contaminated! There are many other complaints about Chipotle, but I stopped eating there over 6 months ago. There needs to be consistent training of the employees and they need to have an older adult present to manage them to ensure that all employees adhere to the appropriate handling of food. No one should ever, ever be permitted to work around food when they are sick!