The food company also conducted nationwide deep cleaning and sanitation of its 2000 restaurants. Not only do restaurants lose money from temporarily closing locations and returning their customers to health, if they are part of a larger chain, damage can be incurred to the trade name.
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Foodborne illnesses like the E. coli outbreak linked to Northwest Chipotle restaurants are more common than the public realizes. To prevent further illness, the chain is working with health officials to improve the food handling process in all its 2,000 restaurants.
Going above and beyond required testing, and enhancing nationwide testing of produce and fresh meat.
We were not allowed inside, and the staff could not talk to us, but Chipotle customers were more than happy to tell us how they felt about eating there after so many people became sick in Western Washington and OR restauraunts. The company voluntarily closed restaurants across the two states, sanitized them, and brought in new food. “The testing…and cultures come back negative and [there] could still be low-level contamination”.
Retaining two preeminent food safety scientists to help the company assess and improve upon its already high standards for food safety. Though the source is unknown, many of those sickened reported eating at a Chipotle restaurant.
YouGov BrandIndex interviews 4,300 people each weekday from a representative US population sample, more than 1.5 million interviews per year.
A steady line of people paraded into the Chipotle near Portland’s Lloyd Center during lunchtime, just hours after the restaurant had reopened for the first time since October 30.
In an agreement dated November 9, Chipotle officials promised to meet several criteria from the Oregon Health Authority before opening restaurants.
In OR 18 illnesses have been located in Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Columbia, Linn and Lane counties. The officials said that the cause may have been raw ingredients such as tomatoes, lettuce or cilantro. The rest are scheduled to open as soon as they get resupplied with new food.
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Dr. Scott Lindquist, Washington State’s Medical Epidemiologist for Communicable Diseases, said Chipotle has made changes to minimize their risk going forward. “We have redoubled our efforts to enhance our food safety practices in order to ensure that our food is as safe as it can be”, Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle, said in a statement.
