After hearing a trickle of reports about food poisoning over recent months, millions of lunch-seeking Americans are probably wondering: Is it safe to eat at Chipotle?
Chipotle’s food safety crisis, explained in 4 minutes
Joss Fong is a founding member of the Vox video team and a producer focused on science and tech. She holds a master’s degree in science, health, and environmental reporting from NYU.
The bad news is that public health investigators haven’t identified the source of the E. coli that sickened almost 60 Chipotle customers in 11 states. By the time they started testing the restaurants and the employees, they couldn’t find a trace of the bacteria.
But that may be a blessing in disguise, because without a specific ingredient or supplier to blame, Chipotle has to inspect everything.
Spurred by repeated cases of food poisoning in the past six months — from not just E. coli but also norovirus (caused by sick workers) and salmonella (caused by contaminated tomatoes) — Chipotle announced an ambitious food safety plan that, if implemented, could make its restaurant much safer places to eat.
Watch the video above to learn more about how Chipotle’s food was contaminated and how the company hopes to fix it.
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