Chipotle’s Food Safety Woes Sicken Boston College Students

The Cleveland Circle Chipotle was voluntarily closed down after an inspection revealed cooked chicken was being kept at too low of a temperature. The health department said in a statement that initial testing conducted by the State Public Health had shown the presence of norovirus.

Moreover, 8 players on the Boston College Basketball team confirmed to have E.coli just moments after Boston College’s university medical staff sent out a campus-wide email notifying students and faculty that there were numerous people on campus that had become sick from the Chipotle restaurant in Cleveland Circle.

The city noted in its statement that “information is constantly evolving”.

BOSTON (AP) – Boston College says the number of students reporting gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle has climbed to 80. At least 11 locations in Washington and OR were linked to E. coli cases in those states between October 13 and November 7, though no new illnesses have occurred since then, according to the release.

“All have been tested for both E. coli and the norovirus”.

According to a report from the Boston Inspectional Services department dated Monday, an employee at the Chipotle in Boston was sick while working a shift Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Boston Public Health Commission was not immediately available for comment. He said the restaurant’s permit to operate has been suspended by the city and that a disinfection process has begun. It is important to note that noroviruses are very common, in part because they are so easily transmitted (they can spread through person-to-person contact, on surface areas, or through food or drink).

Infected workers cause about 70 percent of reported norovirus outbreaks from contaminated food. It causes as many as 21 million illnesses annually. “There are no confirmed cases of E. coli connected to Chipotle in MA”.

Chipotle’s latest public health disaster might not be caused by E. coli, but it still isn’t good.

Executives said the chain may eventually raise prices to make up for its food safety investments.