Across the United States, a staple of the college diet has been under attack after several foodborne illness cases of E. coli and norovirus. Chipotle, the popular and moderately priced Mexican restaurant, has come under fire after several incidents related to foodborne illness occurred at multiple locations in multiple states

The problems began last October when 22 people in the states of Washington and Oregon were reported to have gotten sick after eating at Chipotle. In response to this, 43 Chipotle restaurants were closed in the state and the U.S Center for Disease Control launched an investigation which found a strain of pathogenic E. coli. By Nov. 5, the CDC had reported up to 40 cases of people with cases involving the same strain of E. coli. By Nov. 12, the number of cases had risen to 50 but the CDC’s investigation was unable to identify exactly what food item was acting as the source of the bacterial infection, and there can be several reasons for why that is the case.

“It’s actually very common that we don’t find the source,” said Ben Chapman, an associate professor and food safety specialist at NC State. “A person who is sick has to go to the doctor, have the bug identified and then be linked with the other people with the same illness who went to Chipotle. It can sometimes take weeks. By the time all of the dots are connected in the epidemiology world, often the food isn’t around to test anymore.” 

Chapman said these sort of outbreaks often involve fresh produce, which usually goes bad and is thrown away before investigators can start looking for the contaminated ingredients. It is currently unknown whether or not the Chipotle cases involved fresh produce. 

On Dec. 4, the CDC had traced 52 cases of STEC 026, the strain of E. coli affecting Chipotle customers. Even more troubling was the fact that the victims were found in nine different states: Oregon, Washington, California, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New York.

“What you are trying to do is figure out whether or not the pathogen is in the source. You may rinse the outside of it if it’s fresh produce to try and get the pathogen from it or you may pulverize it to see if you can grow specific bacteria from it,” Chapman said. “What we try and do for bacteria is culture it from the food, and once it’s cultured, then we grow it and do further confirmation tests to see what the genetic makeup of the bug is and if it is related to the outbreak.” 

Chapman said that finding the source of a contamination involves matching a lot of data before you even get to the science of testing a potentially bad item. You have to interview the victims for their food history as well as interviewing a control group of people who ate in the same areas but did not get sick, and try and match up those two lists to find the right food item through statistics. All of the ingredients in that food item are then analyzed to search for the contamination. This is the basis of epidemiology.

In addition to the E. coli problems the company has been having, Chipotle has also had a recent incident involving norovirus. As of Dec. 10, 141 Boston College students fell ill with symptoms related to norovirus, many of whom had eaten at the local Chipotle prior to falling ill. The restaurant was shut down on Dec. 7 for health violations such as cooking meat at too low of a temperature and letting a sick employee work.

Norovirus is also commonly known as winter vomiting bug. It can cause intense vomiting and infectious diarrhea in those who catch it. It is spread by fecally contaminated foods and person-to-person contact. 

Chapman said norovirus is the most common foodborne pathogen that we have. Unlike E. coli, viruses don’t grow outside of the body or living environments and cannot be recreated with current technology in a lab because of this, making it harder to track down the source of the pathogen.

“Practicing good hygiene and having systems in place to verify that foods are cooked go a long way in preventing these sort of outbreaks,” Chapman said. “On the supplier’s side, systems are needed to make sure that suppliers are managing food safety on farms and the processing companies.” 

On the individual’s side, Chapman said there is not much a customer can do to ensure that the food they get from a retailer is safe. Sanitation scores can be checked as a precaution but mostly it just comes down to trust in the retailer.

“The safety and well-being of our guests are always our highest priority,” said an official statement from Chipotle and Customer Service Consultant Olivia Beltran. “Since this issue began, we have completed a comprehensive reassessment of our food safety programs with an eye to finding best practices for each of the ingredients we use.” 

The statement went on to say that Chipotle has implemented new programs including end of shelf-life testing of ingredients, DNA-based tests of all fresh produce items, improvements throughout the supply chains based on testing data and improved employee training in food safety and handling. 

There is currently no immediate safety concerns at the Chipotle across campus on Hillsborough Street.