Food GMP and Chipotle: PR Stunt or Real Concern 
[Posted on: Thursday, 11 February, 2016]

This Monday Chipotle closed all its stores for 4 hours during peak lunch time to hold a “Virtual” town hall meeting with its employees to “discuss” steps it has taken to improve food safety. Repeated incidences of microbial contamination of food sold at Chipotle outlets lead to more than 500 cases of food borne illnesses last year, leading to bad publicity and huge loss of revenue. Chipotle announced several measures and promised to spend millions to train, supervise and audit its operations. The store closing during peak hours was a brilliant PR stunt as it gave the chain free publicity while promoting its efforts to combat food safety issues. However, it is important to understand Chipotle’s food safety campaign in the light of current laws and to appreciate how it impacts all food related businesses such as farmers, service providers, food manufacturers, packagers, and shippers. Microbial contamination and the related food borne illnesses are very common. By CDC’s estimates, 1 out of 6 American get food poisoning every year leading to about 138,000 hospitalizations and 3000 deaths each year. Under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) of 2011, FDA was mandated to create new rules to control food borne illnesses and it has been aggressively implementing FSMA provisions. Several new Guidance Documents were released and training programs created. Enforcement is coming fast. Chipotle’s food safety measures, particularly the ones about controlling its suppliers, are already required under the current rules. More importantly, the measures such as managing sick food workers, sanitary practices, and testing for microbial contamination are all included in the current rules. So, while Chipotle may be one of the first major fast food chains to publicly implement these measures, such measures are expected of all such food service providers under the current laws. The online meeting had nothing to do with training the employees in food safety practices but was used primarily to create awareness of its food safety program. The timing of the meeting and online format indicates that the intent was to create a “buzz”. More formal training was hopefully already completed as the stores opened for full business immediately after the online town hall meeting. In all fairness, Chipotle is not the only providers with food contamination issues. All food related businesses are equally susceptible to similar issues. By doing a high-profile event to talk about its food safety program, Chipotle did a public service of creating awareness of the issues at hand. It may have been a calculated risk. It emphasizes the food contamination issues at Chipotle; if you had not heard about the issues, you certainly know now. It takes time to come back from such publicity. But Chipotle has build a great brand and a loyal customer base that are sure to calmed knowing that their favorite store is taking food safety seriously. We will soon find out if Chipotle’s competition, specifically stores that also rely on locally sourced produce and uncooked or mildly process ingredients, follow with similar initiatives of their own. Subway, are you listening!