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Chipotle hires former critic to tackle food safety concerns

May 11, 2016

In hopes of rebuilding its damaged reputation caused by a number of food-safety issues, Chipotle Mexican Grill has hired one of its biggest critics, David Acheson, a former official at the Food and Drug Administration, according to Reuters.

The chain, which has faced a number of E coli, salmonella and norovirus outbreaks over the past year, is counting on the move to restore consumer confidence. The chain has suffered a huge decline in sales, which have cut $6 billion off its market valuation.

Acheson has criticized Chipotle for relying too heavily on testing and believes the focus should be on improving food sourcing and handling practices.

"If you do enough testing of incoming ingredients you can increase your odds of catching a problem before you use the ingredients and thus prevent illness," he wrote in a December article in Forbes. "But to me, this is only a partial solution."

As of press time, Chipotle spokesperson, Chris Arnold, had not yet responded to FastCasual's inquiry regarding how Acheson would change the chain's food-safety strategy. 

Chipotle also recently hired David Theno, a former Jack in the Box executive credited with fixing food safety at the fast-food chain following a deadly E. coli outbreak in the 1990s, according to Reuters.

Acheson and Theno are just the latest consultants Chipotle has hired to help with food-safety concerns. In March, it hired James Marsden, a former meat science professor at Kansas State University, as executive director of food safety.