Dec 17, 2015 09:20 AM EST
Chipotle's New Food Safety Protocols, Starting From the Ground Up - Will This Zero Out Salmonella Outbreaks?

Chipotle has had a bad rap because of the many salmonella outbreaks it had to endure when it comes to food borne illnesses in these past six months. But the Mexican grill is trying it's best to make sure everything is clean and salmonella free. 

Chipotle Mexican Grill has had five outbreaks and 355 have fallen ill to the food borne strain. Because of this scandalous food safety concern it had to close 62 of its restaurants. But their next move on the board? Chipotle is going to start from the bottom of the barrel and clean its way upwards. It seems a lot of people are showing interest because all eyes are on the Mexican Chain to see if it can gain its momentum in the food industry once again.

Chipotle plans to win back the confidence of its patrons, consumers, regulators, shareholders and market.

Chipotle, going public with its plans, reveals a change in management;

  1. Chipotle will be utilizing the commissary approach where the company itself will process the produce before it gets to each individual branches.
  2. Microbiologists will join in on the food safety watch. IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group to be led by Dr. Mansour Samadpour is going to help Chipotle maintain food safety standards by delivering a food program that ensures quality and safety standards.
  3. Everything will be farm to table. A high DNA-based testing will be conducted once food is brought in to make sure the food is safe for consumption before delivering to each branches. Expiration or shelf life testing will also be developed to pull items out of the shelves prior to expiration date.
  4. Chipotle will also work hard when it comes to connecting with their vendors and suppliers. They are going to crack down and tighten the roads for food safety's sake.

In a statement from Chipotle's website;

We serve more than 1 million customers a day in our restaurants, and use thousands of pounds of fresh produce and meat in our restaurants every day. Because of the volume of business our restaurants do, it is likely that the source of the E. coli was already out of our supply chain by the time anyone showed signs of illness 

And to make it more personal, Chipotle's founder Steve Ells made a personal appearance on The Today Show to apologize to those people affected by the outbreak.

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