Chipotle To Retrain Employees After Latest Outbreak Of Food Poisoning

The sign on a Chipotle restaurant in Pittsburgh.

Gene J. Puskar / AP

Health officials have determined that a type of bacteria found in food left at unsafe temperatures is the cause of an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness that struck 647 people who ate last month at a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant in Ohio.

Between July 26 and July 30, customers of a Chipotle restaurant in Powell, Ohio, just north of Columbus, complained of food poisoning and diarrhea after eating tacos and burrito bowls there.

Local health officials say a bacterium known as Clostridium perfringens caused the outbreak. It is commonly found in beef, poultry, gravies and dried or pre-cooked foods that “are prepared in large quantities and kept warm for a long time before serving,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.