Food Safety News is reporting the subpoena was issued in December 2015 by a grand jury from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, according to a document filed by Chipotle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 6.
Following the filing with the SEC, Chipotle’s stock fell nearly 3 percent to $435.72 in early trading, Reuters reported. In July, before being hit with six food-borne illness outbreaks, Chipotle stock was going for $750 a share.
The company’s stock value dropped over $6 billion this fall amidst the string of illnesses linked to the restaurant that sickened over 500 people in 10 states across the nation. There were three E. coli, two norovirus, and one Salmonella outbreaks.
Interestingly, through all that has happened with the company, Chipotle has not updated outbreak information on its website since Dec. 21, 2015.
All the food-borne illness outbreaks occurred between July and December of 2015, and included:
July – Seattle, Washington. Five people became ill after eating at the restaurant, although the source is unknown. The culprit ended up being E. coli O157:H7.
August – Simi Valley, California. A norovirus sickened over 234 people and was linked to the Chipotle restaurant. The actual source of the illness has so far eluded authorities.
August and September in Minnesota. Salmonella Newport was the culprit in this particular outbreak that sickened 64 people. The source of the illness was determined to be the tomatoes served at the restaurants.
October outbreak in nine states. This outbreak sickened over 53 people and resulted in eight hospitalizations. The source of the infection has yet to be found. The culprit was Shiga toxin producing E. coli O26 (STEC O26).
December – Boston, Mass. Another norovirus outbreak sickened over 136 people, mainly students at the local college.
The criminal investigation into Chipotle
The criminal investigation in the Simi Valley case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney General’s office for California, in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations. The norovirus outbreak linked to the Simi Valley Chipotle Restaurant ended up sickening 234 people, including 18 employees of the restaurant.
The norovirus outbreak occurred during the week of August 18, 2015. The restaurant was closed on Aug. 21, and after a thorough cleaning was reopened the following day. The LA Times reported on Sept. 4 that an initial inspection was done and a follow-up inspection was held on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2015.
Violations included: dirty restrooms; unclean utensils or equipment; equipment connected to sewer lines; unsanitary floors, walls or ceilings; and insufficient food temperatures. Some workers also did not have valid food handler cards. The LA Times said that despite the violations, the restaurant passed both inspections.
Chipotle’s response to the subpoena
In its SEC filing, Chipotle characterized the Simi Valley norovirus outbreak as an “isolated” incident, adding, “The subpoena requires us to produce a broad range of documents related to a Chipotle restaurant in Simi Valley, Calif., that experienced an isolated norovirus incident during August 2015,” according to the SEC filing.
“It is not possible at this time to determine whether we will incur, or to reasonably estimate the amount of, any fines, penalties or further liabilities in connection with the investigation pursuant to which the subpoena was issued.”
“Following (the CDC) announcement and related national media attention, our comparable restaurant sales trended down to -37 percent. For the full month of December, comparable restaurant sales were -30 percent. Future sales trends may be significantly influenced by further developments,” according to the SEC filing.
