Farm to Fork Meets E. Coli

Virginia Jacobs, Staff Reporter
November 10, 2015

The restaurant most well known for their food being from ‘farm to fork’ has recently stumbled upon E. coli. Chipotle, an extremely popular Mexican restaurant, which is constantly being raved about because of their healthy and fresh produce, recently closed 43 locations in Oregon and Washington. However, the company – after still not finding out the exact source of the outbreak – is now planning to reopen all locations by the end of the week.

This case is not the first food safety issue Chipotle has faced recently. Just since August there have been outbreaks ranging from salmonella, norovirus, and E. coli in four different states. In Minnesota, dozens of people got salmonella. After this, in Simi Valley, California, dozens of people developed norovirus. More recently and closer to home, there have been forty one sick and twelve hospitalized in both Oregon and Washington as a result of the E. coli outbreak.

These patients in both Oregon and Washington, ranging from three to sixty one years old, all developed cold-like symptoms and excessive needs to use the bathroom within a few days after eating the meal. Some individuals even said it was so painful that they thought they were dying, which is in fact a possible effect of E. coli.

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Given the serious effects of E. coli contamination, this outbreak has caused many to not be able to return to work and/or school until they have fully recovered. So far, Chipotle has already been sued by two girls and their families, ages eight and fourteen, in connection with this most recent E. coli outbreak.

The most common meal that people ate who later tested positive for E.coli was a burrito bowl. However, representatives from Chipotle said that this outbreak was most likely not caused by a meat product. Several likely culprits for the contamination include lettuce, tomatoes, fresh salsa, cilantro, and even certain spices. Given the range of ingredients used, it can be extremely hard to track down the exact source of the E. coli.

Chipotle representatives have told the public that if anyone has eaten at their restaurant recently and has become sick that it is important to seek medical attention to identify if their illness is connected with the E. coli outbreak.

This incident goes to show that even a restaurant that brands itself as ‘healthy’ is not necessarily free of risk for food safety issues. 

In trying to prevent this from happening again, Chipotle is replacing all food in all their affected restaurants and deep cleaning all equipment that comes in contact with food, before they will be able to reopen later this week.

According to a Chipotle representative, “the safety of our customers and the integrity of our food supply has always been our highest priority.