(CN) — Restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill agreed Tuesday to pay a $25 million criminal forfeiture fine — the largest food-safety fine ever imposed — for norovirus outbreaks spread by sick workers at its restaurants between 2015 and 2018.
The Justice Department on Tuesday charged Newport Beach, California based-Chipotle with two counts of adulterating food in violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by selling contaminated food which sickened more than 1,100 people across the U.S.
But the federal government agreed to defer prosecuting the restaurant chain for three years and will dismiss the charges so long as Chipotle complies with the conditions set out in a 51-page deferred prosecution agreement filed Tuesday in the Central District of California.
Four national outbreaks of the highly contagious pathogen norovirus and one outbreak of food poisoning related to Clostridium perfringens bacteria found on raw meat caused Chipotle workers and customers to suffer from severe symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramping.
The outbreaks also caused Chipotle’s stock to fall considerably.
Workers not properly trained in food handling techniques apparently spread the virus by showing up to work sick and failing to heat food to appropriate temperatures to control the growth of foodborne pathogens, according to a statement of facts attached to the deferred prosecution agreement.
“Chipotle failed to ensure that its employees both understood and complied with its food safety protocols, resulting in hundreds of customers across the country getting sick,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement.
“Today’s steep penalty, coupled with the tens of millions of dollars Chipotle already has spent to upgrade its food safety program since 2015, should result in greater protections for Chipotle customers and remind others in the industry to review and improve their own health and safety practices,” he added.
The statement of facts attached to the case paint the picture of a rapidly expanding business which doubled its revenue between 2011 and 2015, from $2.27 billion to $4.5 billion. By 2018, Chipotle owned 2,452 restaurants in the U.S. and employed 73,000 employees.
In annual disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Chipotle acknowledged the risk of foodborne illness associated with operating its restaurants “due to our use of fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation,” according to the statement of facts.
The “food with integrity” business model Chipotle prided itself on is what contributed to the food poisoning outbreaks, however, when sick employees failed to comply with the company’s sick exclusion policy which required symptomatic employees to stay off work for five days.
Chipotle adopted a sick leave policy in 2015 before the first norovirus outbreak where employees could accrue three days of paid sick leave annually. The policy was amended less than a year later to eliminate the accrual requirement, so employees received the three days of paid sick leave upon their first day of employment.
But sick employees — including managers — caused the norovirus outbreaks in California, Massachusetts and Virginia, which were exacerbated by employees failing to report the illnesses.
Timely reporting of the illnesses would have triggered Chipotle’s safety, security and risk department to implement prevention protocols such as restaurant sanitation with a bleach solution and increased employee handwashing.
Since the first outbreak in 2015, Chipotle has developed new food safety protocols including limiting the number of employees involved in preparing food and installing new dish sanitizers in its stores.
It also created an independent Food Safety Advisory Council to evaluate company procedures and make recommendations in addition to implementing automated hazard monitoring systems and employee wellness checks.
Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol said in a statement “the settlement represents an acknowledgement of how seriously Chipotle takes food safety every day and is an opportunity to definitively turn the page on past events and focus on serving our customers real food made with real ingredients that they can enjoy with confidence.”
Chipotle will pay the $25 million fine in several payments, including a lump $10 million payment due June 1 and three subsequent $5 million payments due every 30 days.
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