Chipotles in Bend, across U.S. close for 4-hour food safety talk

Chipotle restaurants in Bend and across the country reopened Monday after a midday four-hour nationwide closure to talk about food safety efforts in the wake of recent E. coli and other outbreaks.

The fast food chain closed all of its locations nationwide for a four-hour food safety meeting for all 50,000 of its employees.

The meeting was called after Chipotle faced numerous food scares, including and E.Coli outbreak in Washington and Oregon, as well as norovirus cases where many people got sick in the Boston area.

The company said it has launched numerous pro active approaches when it comes to employees handling ingredients safely.

“It sounds like they are getting this resolved, so hopefully they can kind of nip it in the bud and move on, because they have great food and it’s really sad,” Bend customer Allison Wright said Monday.

Chipotle highlighted the cause of some of the outbreaks in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

As for the cause of the E.Coli outbreak in the Northwest, the chain said it still doesn’t know what caused more than 200 people to get sick after they ate their food.

The restaurant has revamped its steps when it comes to cutting and testing their ingredients. The company said all ingredients will go under more frequent testing.

All the prep when it comes to vegetables will be processed in the company’s central kitchen. Also, steak and chicken will be marinated overnight and will be the last thing to prep, so it won’t come in contact with other products.

Another change to Chipotle’s policy is that they are advising all of their employees if they are sick to stay home and not go to work.

Chipotle is hoping a marketing campaign will attract burrito lovers and new customers to the restaurant.

The chain gave away free burritos via text to say they were sorry they were closed during the lunch hour.

“I think it’s a good way to attract people back and get there attention again,” Wright said, “This happened, we’re trying to fix it — here’s a little incentive.”

It’s an incentive the company is hoping will pay off in the coming days, weeks and months.