Articles Tagged with food poisoning

A Chipotle restaurant chain in California has been served with a grand jury subpoena as part of a criminal investigation of a norovirus outbreak. The subpoena was granted by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California in an inquiry the office is conducting with the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations. It seeks a broad range of documents which has not been specified to the public.

Back in August 2015, two hundred and seven people, including 18 Chipotle employees, reported falling ill after eating at one of Chipotle’s restaurants in Simi Valley, California. Restaurants in that area typically contact the Ventura County Environmental Health Division as soon as they become aware of food-borne illnesses, but in this case Chipotle did not notify the agency until the restaurant had been closed down, cleaned, and re-opened.  While it does not appear that the California outbreak spread beyond one restaurant, it is unusual for federal enforcement to occur for localized outbreaks.

In recent months, the burrito chain has suffered a series of food-related illnesses amongst customers and employees. Chipotle voluntarily closed 43 restaurants in Washington State and Oregon due to an E. coli outbreak, and another norovirus outbreak occurred in Boston, Massachusetts in December.

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