Seattle health officials close Chipotle unit for repeated violationsSeattle health officials close Chipotle unit for repeated violations

Health officials in Seattle on Thursday closed a Chipotle Mexican Grill unit there for repeated food safety violations.

There were no reports of illness. But the violations were found as the health department keeps a close eye on the 17 Chipotle units in Seattle and King County after the E. coli outbreak linked to the chain, which began in late October and sickened 52 people in nine states.

The news hit as officials with Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. responded to a norovirus outbreak in Boston associated with one restaurant, one of a number of foodborne illness incidents across the U.S. this year.

In recent days, company officials have attempted to focus its message on chain-wide efforts to make Chipotle the safest place in the world to eat.  Ongoing reports of illnesses and health violations, however, have clouded that message.

The Seattle and King County Food Safety Program said a unit at 212 Westlake Ave. North in South Lake Union was one of the 43 restaurants in the Pacific Northwest voluntarily closed by Chipotle last month after an outbreak of E. coli was reported there. Only 11 restaurants were implicated in Washington state and Oregon, but the company closed all units in the region out of what officials described as an “abundance of caution.”

The restaurants went through top-down cleaning and sanitation, discarded all produce and passed an inspection by health officials to reopen.

On Nov. 10, all 17 units in King County met the criteria for reopening, the agency said.

Since then, the department of public health has continued to closely monitor Chipotle, conducting inspections at all county locations.

The South Lake Union restaurant had “red violations” on three consecutive visits, including an inspection on Thursday, the restaurant’s second visit since the outbreak, the agency said.

Red violations indicate improper practices or procedures identified as the most prevalent in contributing to foodborne illness.

Violations included improper hot holding temperatures under the required 130 degrees for several items, including diced chicken, brown rice, shredded beef, cubed beef and fajita vegetables.

The violations totaled 25 points out of a possible 400, well below the 90-point threshold for a closure, the agency noted.

But because the restaurant also had violations during inspections on Nov. 23 and in December 2014, the health department closed the restaurant.

Company officials must correct the violations and the restaurant must be be reinspected before being given clearance to reopen, the agency said.

Chipotle did not respond to NRN's request for comment at the time of publication.

Correction: Dec. 11, 2015  An earlier version of this story incorrectly referenced when the recent E. coli outbreak associated with Chipotle began.

Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected]
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