Chipotle calmed fears today that customers had been sickened after eating in New York City branches, saying there have been no reports of food safety problems other than two unsubstantiated tweets alleging an issue.
In one, novelist Eric Van Lustbader said his editor had to seek “urgent care” after eating in a Chipotle and getting sick. Van Lustbader reported in a subsequent tweet that the woman spent seven hours in an emergency room, where doctors traced her illness to a bacteria that they suspected she picked up from mishandled food.
This Chipotle thing is still ongoing. My editor ended up in urgent care after being deathly ill all night from eating at Chipotle's.
— Eric Van Lustbader (@EVanLustbader) July 7, 2016
He later backtracked, saying he was merely conveying what his colleague had told him.
“I will no longer answer abt [sic] the incident,” he posted. “I tweeted because I was worried that my friend got so sick. Didn't want it to happen to anyone else.”
Another Twitter user responded to one of Van Lustbader’s posts with a report that he had gotten sick after eating in a Chipotle, too. “I was also sick all weekend,” posted Jimmy Chu.
@EVanLustbader@ChipotleTweets I was also sick all weekend after eating Chipotle in Manhattan. Ate at Chipotle's 56th street location...
— James Chu (@DARTLIFE16) July 7, 2016
Chipotle responded to media coverage of the tweets with assurances that there had been no official reports of food safety problems at any of its New York stores.
But by the time those communications were issued, the company’s stock price had already dipped.
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