Chipotle To Close Stores Nationwide Feb. 8 Ahead of ‘Food Safety Plan’

Chipotle restaurants across the country will briefly close February 8 as art of a plan to move forward amidst a string of norovirus, E. coli and salmonella outbreaks.

NBC 4 news reported that Chris Arnold, communication director for Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., confirmed the restaurants will be closed through lunch for a national team meeting” and will reopen at 3 p.m. in each time zone.

People across six states became sickened by tainted food between August and November, with an additional 141 people becoming sickened in Massachusetts.

The outbreaks of tainted food began in August of 2015. Officials linked the outbreak of illnesses to tomatoes, which sickened dozes of people in Minnesota. In Simi Valley, around 100 customers and Chipotle employees became sickened by the norovirus in mid-August, prompting a federal criminal investigation.