Chipotle SLU closes for ‘repeated food safety violations'

Forty-three Chipotle restaurants in Washington and Oregon voluntarily closed their doors when they became linked with an E. Coli outbreak last month.

In order to re-open their facilities, restaurants were required to perform a top-down cleaning and sanitation, discard all produce, and pass an inspection by our health inspectors. All seventeen King County Chipotle restaurants met criteria to reopen their doors on Nov. 10.

"In the time since, Public Health has continued to closely monitor Chipotle and has conducted inspections at all King County locations. The South Lake Union restaurant closed today has received red violations on three consecutive visits, including the inspection today (its second inspection since the E. coli outbreak)," a King County Public Health spokeswoman wrote.

"Red violations indicate improper practices or procedures identified as the most prevalent in contributing to foodborne illness. In each one of these inspections, the total red violation points were between 25-33 points out of 400 possible points, well below the 90 point threshold for a closure. However, because this location showed repeated violations, the health department closed the restaurant."

As of Thursday afternoon, Public Health did not have any report of illnesses connect with the restaurant.

Want to talk about the news of the day? Watch free streaming video on the KIRO 7 mobile app and iPad app, and join us here on Facebook.

KIRO