Next On Chipotle's Counter: A Criminal Investigation
Chipotle has delicious burritos and guac, but now it also has a federal grand jury subpoena. The fast food restaurant is facing a criminal investigation as a result of a norovirus outbreak at a Simi Valley, CA, shop last fall. More than 200 Chipotle customers and employees were sickened, Ventura County Environmental Health Department Community Services program manager Doug Beach told NPR.
The investigation is being carried out by the local US Attorney's Office and the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations.
In addition to the California norovirus outbreak, eating at Chipotle also resulted in students in Boston falling ill from norovirus, a salmonella outbreak in Minnesota, and two recent E. coli outbreaks (one in Washington and Oregon; another in Kansas, North Dakota and Oklahoma). According to NPR, same-store sales at the restaurant dropped nearly 15% during the last quarter of 2015. [NPR]
