Another Chipotle restaurant is under investigation after customers complain of vomiting and diarrhea

Hollis Johnson

• Public health officials are investigating reports of illnesses tied to a Los Angeles Chipotle restaurant.
• Chipotle said it was aware of illness reports tied to that location, but said it had not heard from any customers directly.
• Several customers who said they recently ate at the Pico Boulevard Chipotle reported symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea to the website iwaspoisoned.com.

Public health officials are investigating a possible illness outbreak tied to a Los Angeles Chipotle restaurant.

In an email to Business Insider, The Los Angeles Health Department's Acute Communicable Disease Control unit, which investigates contagious illnesses and diseases, said that the agency "is aware of reports of illness and is investigating."

The restaurant under investigation is located at 4550 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. The health department did not immediately respond to questions about the nature or scope of the possible outbreak.

Chipotle said it was aware of illness reports tied to that location, but said it had not heard from any customers directly.

"We take any report of illness very seriously," Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said. "We are aware of three reports (two of which appear to be the same) on a user generated reporting site but there is no clinical validation associated with those reports, and we have not been contacted by customers directly to substantiate these claims. As a precautionary measure, we have implemented heightened sanitization measures at this restaurant, which we do as a matter of policy if ever we receive reports of illness (even if they are not substantiated)."

Several customers who said they recently ate at the Pico Boulevard Chipotle reported symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea to the website iwaspoisoned.com, which allows people to anonymously report suspected foodborne illnesses.

In total, five reports were made to the website indicating that at least seven customers fell sick after eating there around December 13.

"My whole family and I ate at Chipotle two days before we started experiencing stomach pains and nausea," one person wrote. "It was constant vomiting every two hours and weakness. We all had burrito bowls with meat, beans, rice, and guac. The symptoms lasted for two days now. We're starting to feel better, but it was a very uncomfortable experience and we won't be going to Chipotle anymore after this."

Another customer said: "Ate there on Wednesday and symptoms started late the next day with nausea, stomach distress, diarrhea, and vomiting. I only linked it because a co-worker is having the same symptoms and that is what we had in common."

A similar cluster of illnesses tied to a Sterling, Virginia Chipotle was reported to iwaspoisoned.com in July, and Chipotle temporarily shut down the restaurant as a result. Chipotle's shares dropped more than 7% on the news. Health officials later determined that norovirus, a highly contagious virus, was the source of the outbreak.

Norovirus is different from E. coli, the bacteria that led to a widespread outbreak at Chipotle restaurants in 14 states two years ago.

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