As executives with Chipotle Mexican Grill prepare a new advertising campaign — sans food safety references — federal officials say nothing has been ruled out as the root cause of E. coli outbreaks among the chain’s customers. However, Chipotle officials suggested they have information about the cause of some of their customers’ illnesses in a Jan. 19 news release about an upcoming meeting with Chipotle employees.
- Seattle — E. coli O157:H7, July 2015, five sick people, source unknown;
- Simi Valley, Calif. — Norovirus, August 2015, 234 sick people, source was sick employee;
- Minnesota — Salmonella Newport, August and September 2015, 64 sick people, source was tomatoes but it is not known at what point in the field-to-fork chain the pathogen was introduced;
- Nine states — E. coli O26, began October 2015 and not yet declared over, 53 sick people, source unknown. States involved are California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington;
- Boston — Norovirus, December 2015, 151 sick people, source was sick employee; and
- Three states — E. coli O26, began December 2015 and not yet declared over, five sick people, source unknown. States involved are Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska, but the sick Nebraska residents ate at a Chipotle location in Kansas.
Ells and other top Chipotle executives said Jan. 13 that the outbreaks will not be referenced in their new consumer advertising campaign, which is set to launch in mid-February. Instead, the consumer campaign will feature the same kinds of ads Chipotle has previously used in broadcast and outdoor advertising. In a separate effort, Ells and the other executives will do interviews with news media with two main talking points — “we believe this is over” and “we have implemented changes” — the founder told attendees at the annual ICR Conference on Jan. 13. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)