Chipotle closes Virginia restaurant amid reported cases of norovirus.
The Washington Post (7/18, Dewey, 12.92M) reports a Chipotle restaurant in Sterling, Virginia, temporarily closed on Tuesday after several customers reported they became ill after eating there. The chain previously experienced a series of E.coli, salmonella, and norovirus outbreaks beginning in 2015, and temporarily closed more than 2,000 restaurants in 2016 to implement employee food safety training. Chipotle, which saw its stock fall by six percent, confirmed that customers’ “reported symptoms are consistent with norovirus,” though the company maintains the virus “does not come from our food supply, and it is safe to eat at Chipotle.”
USA Today (7/18, Yu, 10.05M) reports the company confirmed its food sickened “a small number” of customers. According to the CDC, norovirus is the nation’s leading cause of foodborne illness.
The Wall Street Journal (7/18, Jargon, Subscription Publication, 6.99M) reports a company spokesman said the Sterling location was expected to reopen Tuesday following a “thorough sanitization.”
Reuters (7/18, Baertlein) reports Business Insider first traced the reported illnesses on Tuesday, citing information on eight cases and at least 13 customers from the website iwaspoisoned.com, where customers documented their believed instances of illness.
Also reporting are Bloomberg News (7/18, Patton, Giammona, 3.08M), the AP (7/18, Choi), the Huffington Post(7/18, Grenoble, 6.63M), and U.S. News & World Report (7/18, Newman, 1.67M).
