The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the Food and Drug Administration are jointly conducting the investigation.
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The company said in a regulatory filing that it was asked to produce a broad range of documents tied to a norovirus outbreak this summer at its restaurant in Simi Valley, California, but declined to provide further details.
Shares of the burrito chain fell over 5 percent to $424.13, their lowest in more than two years, as the Denver-based company grapples with a wave of norovirus and E. coli outbreaks that have sickened customers and battered sales.
While the former thanks America’s farmers and ranchers for producing food for its stores and donates millions to support students in agriculture, the latter has continually spread false information about modern beef production, used fear and emotion to drive sales, and most recently has been slapped with plunging sales after an E. coli outbreak linked to its restaurants in October and November. That led to a shortage of carnitas at hundreds of locations around the country, which the company said dampened its sales growth. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment. A federal grand jury will determine if official charges will be filed against Chipotle.
Chipotle said in a statement in December that it could no longer predict sales trends given the food scares.
A spokesman for Chipotle, Chris Arnold, said the subpoena only covers the isolated incident at the Simi Valley location, but declined to discuss any other aspects of the investigation. “Yet the company did not alert the county of the matter until Saturday – after it had already reopened the restaurant”, Beach explained.
“That was a first for us”, Beach said in a phone interview.
He also noted that Chipotle started getting complaints about illnesses on Tuesday, Aug. 18, and shut down its restaurant the following Friday. The quarterly decline was the first for Chipotle as a public company.
When outbreaks happen at restaurants it is caused by an infected employee.
“It could take a decade before they’re fully back”, said Gene Grabowski, a partner at K Global and the head of its crisis communications group.
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The incidents prompted Chipotle’s CEO to apologize in full-page advertisements last month. The government’s involvement is part of an overall strategy to focus on food safety.
