CMG - Chipotle Mexican Grill's Ecoli Outbreak

My only question is whether CMG will do the same kind of brand damage control as Jack in the Box did in 1993. I can see it now, Chip Poodle, a combination of wrinkly dried pepper and hip hop dog with tude. He's so hip that he gets smoked while break dancing, wearing a serape and sombrero. Won't hold a candle to my all time favorite fast food character – JACK!!!   Yeah, I'm touched but I just don't know how… Seriously though…

The problem is definitely caused by human error. Is it the supply chain or point of manufacture/sale procedure?  Let's look at sample of 20 events from history, where the answers to today's new fangled problems can usually be found…

1977 Trini and Carmen’s Mexican restaurant, Food poisoning the cause was tracked to hot sauce made from improperly canned jalapeño peppers.  Supply chain source.

The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the food poisoning of 751 individuals in The Dalles, Oregon, through the deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants with salmonella.  Intentional.

1985 Jalisco Cheese Listeria  victims had all eaten a Mexican-style soft cheese produced by Jalisco Cheese.  Factory procedural

2002 Pilgrim’s Pride Meat Listeria, sliced turkey deli meat.  The outbreak which included seven deaths resulted in the recall of 27.4 million pounds of poultry products. Factory procedural

Chi-Chi's 2003 - hepatitis A-infected green onions that were imported from Mexico. The largest outbreak in U.S. history of hepatitis A, a virus caused through contact with feces.  Supply chain source

1997 Frozen Strawberry Scare – Hepatitis A led to the recall of more than a million pounds of frozen strawberries originated from Mexico, then moved onto California where they were processed and shipped. Supply chain source

In 1993 and 2000 Sizzler - An investigation found that the main cause of the outbreak was cross-contamination between the meat processing area and the ready-to-eat food preparation area. One should never prepare other food on a board that was used to prepare raw meat.    In both cases POS point of sale procedural

"We are fully committed to discovering what the actual source of this problem is and solve it," Does this sound vaguely familiar? It was the Finance VP for Sizzler in 93.

1993 Jack in the Box ecoli from undercooked meat patties in five states, gave birth to my favorite fast food character, Jack, whose pointy head and nose makes Ronald look like the clown he is. POS Procedural

1996 Odwalla Apple Juice rotten blemished fecal contact fruit was used in a non pasteurized product. Factory Procedural

2000 Walkerton Water Supply  farm runoff contaminated groundwater - 1000's were hit several died – Procedural

2005 South Wales - a vacuum packing machine used to package both raw meat and cooked meat without being properly cleaned between batches resulting in cross-contamination. Procedural

2006 Dole Baby Spinach Ecoli - Investigators believe it came from a cattle ranch that leased land to a spinach farmer. Supply chain source

2006 Taco Bell and Taco Johns – Ecoli - Taco Bell determined that the cause of the problem was with lettuce, not green onions, and switched produce suppliers. The Taco John's E. coli outbreakwas traced to contaminated lettuce sold in foods at Taco John's restaurants that were supplied by a Minneapolis lettuce supplier. In both cases, supply chain source.

2008, Salmonella, more than 1,329 people across 43 states were infected, the largest Salmonella outbreak since 1985. They were linked to fresh tomatoes from Mexico and Florida, as well as fresh jalapeños and Serrano peppers from those areas.  Supply chain source

2009, Salmonella, contaminated peanut butter prompted a recall of 3,918-related peanut butter products after nine people died, and 22,500 more were sickened.  Factory procedural.

2011, Cargill — the largest privately held corporation in the U.S.—recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey infected with Salmonella. Factory procedural.

2011 European ecoli outbreak - assessment implicated fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt in 2009 and 2010, from which sprouts were grown, as a common source of both outbreaks. Supply chain

2015 United States E. coli outbreak involving the spread through contaminated celery which was consumed in chicken salad at various large retailers.  Supply chain source

Whats the end result?  Intentional 1; Supply Chain 9; Procedural 10.  At the end of the day, no doubt most of the supply chain caused outbreaks were procedural, and other than the bioterror, all where induced by human error.

If this was the old days and CMG had a bunch of pimply nose pickin teenagers working there I would say it was bad hygiene, habits and procedural.  In this wonderful robust service industry led economic recovery, since most of the people working at CMG are adults and this is probably one of their multiple jobs to make ends meet, I would tend to have less suspicion of a POS point of sale procedural or hygienic cause. 

Given all the above, since its not Hep-A or listeria, excepting the Boston norovirus to procedural, given that in this day and age, the meat is overcooked, and since the majority of CMG's outbreak is Ecoli, I have to lean towards a supply chain issue involving a combination of the lettuce, salsa, tomatoes and peppers.    Think I'm gonna have me a sandwich.