DENVER Chipotle Mexican Grill is grilling the jalapenos it formerly used raw in its salsas and guacamole because of concerns about the ongoing salmonella outbreak, executives told investors this week. They also cautioned that public fears about the foodborne contamination, now believed to be the largest in a decade, have likely softened sales.
“Frequent warnings by governmental agencies about the safety of eating certain fresh salsas and guacamole is something that's bound to temporarily dampen the enthusiasm of certain customers,” company president Marty Moran told financial analysts during a conference call Wednesday. “Additionally, the many changes to our restaurant operations occasioned by these issues certainly poses a distraction to our managers.”
“At this time we see no way of actually quantifying that effect,” he added.
Moran recounted how Chipotle yanked all fresh tomatoes off its prep line when that form of produce was suspected of being the source of the outbreak, which has now sickened more than 1,280 people. A corn salsa was reformulated to serve as a substitute for tomato salsa, he explained.
The reformulation of the chain’s condiments was completed quickly because all are made from scratch, Moran said.
Later, during a question-and-answer session, Moran acknowledged that customers would not be aware of the safety steps unless they came into stores. Yet, because of all the publicity about the salmonella investigation, “we are concerned that there is a chilling effect.”
The outbreak, which began in April, has been the focus of an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since early June. Officials initially suspected that the rare form of salmonella had been spread via Roma, plum and round red tomatoes. They later aired suspicions about jalapeno and serrano peppers, while some also cited concerns about fresh cilantro.
On Monday, the FDA said that the implicated strain of salmonella, a form called Salmonella Saintpaul, had been found in a single jalapeno sample that had been grown in Mexico and processed in Texas. The agency then advised consumers not to eat jalapeno and serrano peppers in a raw form.
Atranscript of the Chipotle's conference call was released Thursday by the SeekingAlpha.com financial website.
Chipotle operates 778 fast-casual burrito restaurants.