CDC To Chipotle: Public Has A Right To Know About Outbreaks

Federal officials slapped down claims by Chipotle Mexican Grill’s corporate lawyers that the public didn’t need to know details about E. coli outbreaks that sickened at least 60 people across 14 states in late 2015.

Outbreak updates posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not include “the most accurate information available” and they “actually misinform the public,” according to Bryant “Corky” Messner, an attorney for the Denver-based burrito fast food chain.

Messner sent a letter to CDC officials on Dec. 21, 2015, telling them the federal public health agency had failed to follow its own regulations as well as federal law. The restaurant chain complained that the CDC’s public updates in November — while the outbreaks were ongoing — were unnecessary because there was “no ongoing threat.”

Wrong, wrong and wrong again was the CDC’s response.

In a letter sent April 15 and just made public this week. Dr. Jeremy Sobel, CDC’s associate director for epidemiological sciences, said the agency followed the letter and sprit of federal law, as well as its internal policies and procedures.