Chipotle Launches Ad Campaign to Reassure Customers of Food Safety

The Mexican chain is trying to win back customers' trust.

ByABC News
September 21, 2016, 1:13 PM

— -- Chipotle really wants you to know that its food is safe to eat.

Almost a year after a string of E.coli outbreaks dealt a blow to its reputation, the Mexican fast food chain is launching a new effort today to reassure customers of its commitment to food safety.

Chipotle is highlighting the efforts it has made over the last few months in a series of print and digital newspaper advertisements.

Chipotle founder Steve Ells also addressed the company's moves in a video to customers and shareholders.

"In 2015 we failed to live up to our own food safety standards, and in so doing we let our customers down," Ells said in the video posted to Twitter.

But customers are apparently still wary of eating at the chain.

"There are definitely folks out there who aren't entirely sure," Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle's head of marketing, told The Associated Press.

The company is touting eight "key food safety advancements" that it has made since an E. coli outbreak sickened dozens of customers in a handful of states.

The company apologized after the outbreak with a similar media campaign last December.

Among the changes, the company says that it is implementing an electronic tracking system to monitor ingredients in its supply chain.

This move seems to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said in its final report on the Chipotle E.coli outbreak that restaurants "can help stop outbreaks and lessen their impact by keeping detailed records to allow faster tracing of individual shipments of foods from source to destination and to help investigators identify what made people sick."

The fast food chain said that it would be adding "additional safety checks/interventions at all suppliers, verified using microbiological testing," in order to cut down or stop dangerous ingredients from reaching their stores.

Chipotle will also be rolling out new food safety procedures at all of its locations, which will include new procedures for handling meats and vegetables.

Full details of the steps that Chipotle says it is taking can be found on its website.

ABC News' Emily Shapiro and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related Topics