Recently, hugely popular Mexican fast-food chain Chipotle’s sales reached a dramatic downfall, all due to an outbreak of disease in their food called E. coli. Many consistent buyers of Chipotle’s food have stopped due to the risk of contracting the disease. Several people have sued Chipotle for their sicknesses and the company has lost billions of dollars. Now, however, Chipotle’s E. coli has officially been labeled a past risk; health officials have said that at this point there is no chance of getting the disease from the brand’s burritos and bowls. Sales are steadily increasing once again but not without memory of the recent incident.
Now that the outbreak is officially over, Chipotle has been making extra efforts to improve safety and regain public trust. Many people are aware of the risks of contracting E. coli at Chipotle and now have mixed opinions on the chain. However, there were some dedicated customers who felt the risk of getting sick was outweighed by the delicious food. “There were only a select amount of cases and I believe it poses no serious health risk,” said Thomas Breen ’20. “I will continue to eat at Chipotle regularly.”
Regardless, over 500 people got sick after the outbreak and the publicity has been horrible for Chipotle. But on February 1st, the Center for Disease Control said that the outbreak of E. coli “appears to be over.” On Monday February 8th, Chipotle closed all of it’s stores for four hours in order to impose extra food safety precautions and improve old ones. They’re working hard to bring their sales back up and it seems reasonable to say that Chipotle is now safer to eat at than ever.
The BACC Rag 