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<p><span style=" background: white;">Chipotle Mexican Grill can&#8217;t seem to catch a break lately.</span></p><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background: white;">On the heels of a high-profile </span><em style="">E. coli </em><span style="">outbreak that sickened dozens, this week 80 Boston College students who ate at the burrito chain fell ill with what health officials reported was a stomach virus.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">In total, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified more than 50 cases in nine states linked to the fast-casual restaurant as of Dec. 4. The outbreak has been a severe blow for Chipotle, which is expected to report negative same-store sales for its fourth quarter for the first time since it became a public company in 2006.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">In response, the Denver-based company has pledged to become an industry leader in food safety as they announce the aggressive actions under way to prevent future outbreaks: Just as suppliers are asked to meet certain standards under the chain&#8217;s Food With Integrity mission, produce suppliers will now be held to higher standards in terms of food safety.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">&#8220;There will be robust testing procedures that will need to be in place for all of our suppliers, whether large or small,&#8221; said Steve Ells, Chipotle chairman, founder and co-CEO, to Nation&#8217;s Restaurant News.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">But because it&#8217;s nearly impossible to test every tomato, the chain is taking additional operation steps, Ells added.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">For example, Chipotle has begun dicing tomatoes in a commissary, putting them through a sanitary kill step to eliminate pathogens, and hermetically sealing them for delivery to restaurants. Similar procedures have been put in place for ingredients like cilantro and lettuce, which are higher-risk items because they are not cooked.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">Ells assures that using a commissary will not degrade quality.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">&#8220;You could bring fresh cilantro right out of the field to restaurants and wash it there. I don&#8217;t think it will be any better than washing the cilantro in the commissary. It&#8217;s a really efficient way to do that, and it&#8217;s sanitary.&#8221;</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">Jack Hartung, Chipotle&#8217;s chief financial officer, warned that the investment in food safety will be costly.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">&#8220;It will be an investment,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have to act with a sense of urgency, and that means we&#8217;ll probably do it inefficiently.&#8221;</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">To ensure that the protocol will be longstanding and make an impact, the company may have to raise menu prices, but those changes will not likely be considered until 2017.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">Chipotle also has a marketing campaign in the works to encourage customers back into their stores.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style="  background-color: white;">&#8220;As soon as we&#8217;re confident that we&#8217;re no longer facing a food safety problem and that this won&#8217;t happen again, then we&#8217;ll do what we did after the reopening of the restaurants in the Pacific Northwest, which was full-page open letters in newspapers, as well as some critically placed interviews, to basically say, &#8216;Hey, this is over. This is what we&#8217;ve done. And now, moving forward, we invite you back into our restaurants,&#8221; said Monty Moran, co-CEO of Chipotle.</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><span style=""><a href="http://nrn.com/food-safety/chipotle-sets-goal-being-leader-food-safety?NL=NRN-02_&amp%3BIssue=NRN-02__20151209_NRN-02__494&amp%3Bsfvc4enews=42&amp%3Bcl=article_1_1&amp%3Butm_rid=CPG06000001659167&amp%3Butm_campaign=6715&amp%3Butm_medium=email&amp%3Belq2=5b2d7e71db7048aeb2425d7f85351c30&utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=chipotle-aims-to-become-leader-in-food-safety-3077" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Click here to read the original article.&nbsp;</a></span></div>

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After its recent string of outbreaks, the company lays out a plan for improving food safety that they contend will put Chipotle 10 to 20 years ahead of industry norms.

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