Two Chipotle Restaurants in Town Get ‘Poor’ Ratings in Health Inspections

As the Chipotle restaurant chain has had problems with various outbreaks sickening its customers, the Darien Health Department conducted inspections at two of the chain’s restaurants in town and rated each of them “Poor” on the department’s rating system.

One other town restaurant was given a “Good” rating in the latest health inspections announced by the department.

The reports from a health inspector noted chicken at too low a temperature at the Chipotle in the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 and (at the Chipotle at 71 Post Road rice in a walk-in cooler at 50 degrees — not cold enough (details from each inspection are below).

Elsewhere

Recently some customers in Massachusetts were sickened from a novovirus after eating at Chipotle, and, in the months before that, E. coli outbreaks among people who ate at Chipotle restaurants were reported in various states. Some of the customers became sick in October and November.

In Seattle, a Chipotle restaurant recently was closed down when health inspectors there found the restaurant failed to keep food hot enough.

Chipotle founder Steve Ells recently posted an apology on the company’s website.

In Darien

Hand washing and cooking meat thoroughly are two ways to lessen the chances that diners will get e. coli, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Darien health inspections regularly involve examining the temperatures of food, and health code violations were reported at each of the Chipotle restaurants in town (temperature-related violations are frequently found in many Darien restaurants with “Poor” ratings).

Here’s what Darien Health Sanitarian Mindy Chambrelli reported finding at the two Chipotle restaurants:

Chipotle Mexican Grill — 71 Post Road — inspected on Dec. 14 — Darien Health Department rating: “Poor” — state health rating: 83

Inspector’s remarks: “Could not provide documentation of training — grill employee, kitchen manager training plan not completed; brown rice in the walk-in at 50 degrees from the previous day at 7 p.m. (per manager in charge) (rice was disposed of); thermometer missing in the low boy under the grill; keep Band Aid covered with a glove when working in the kitchen/cleaning/taking temperatures, etc.; observed spraying protein [meat] cutting boards but not sanitizing — how often are these completely sanitized?; only dipping items in the sanitizer — no contact time at four-bay sink; several bowls/utensils stored unclean on shelf; leabel bulk food items in bins; scoops handle stored in the food product; dry sweeping floors with open food at the line and meat cooking on the grill.”

Chipotle — Interstate 95 North rest stop — inspected on Dec. 15 — Darien Health Department rating: “Poor” — state health rating: 93

Inspector’s remarks: “Three employees without complete documentation of training — one with partial [documentation] (grill employee) and two without any documented training on five modules (new employees); chicken coming off the line not temping [not at temperature of] 165 or higher (put back on grill and reheated to 174); unclean floors in walk-in [cooler] — under shelving.”

Inspector’s additional comments: “Calibrated thermometers during inspection — working correctly.”

You can see full texts of the above inspection reports (and all others from the department) with the above remarks and information on how each relates to specific health code violations on the Darien Health Department’s inspections website. The Darien ratings links just above go to the individual reports quoted.

Mama Carmella’s restaurant at 1981 Post Road was also inspected (on Dec. 8). The restaurant received a “Good” rating under the Darien Health Department system and a score of 94 on the state health code system. (More information on how the two ratings systems work is explained below.)

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See also:

Our previous article listing restaurant inspection ratings (Dec. 9)

You Can Now Read Full Health Inspection Reports on Darien Restaurants Online (Dec. 8)

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How the ratings systems and scores work

Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own Good/Fair/Poor ratings system. Health inspectors also use the state health code regulations to score restaurants, with a perfect score set at 100, and demerits (of 1 to 4 points each) for various code violations.

The Darien system takes into account problems that are ongoing or that have been fixed, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale, or vice versa.

Any establishment actually deemed unsafe can be closed by the town Health Department until violations are fixed. Darien Health Director David Knauf says that has never happened in the time he’s been with the department.

In the list of health inspection results above, the date of the inspection is given and information within brackets have been added for clarity by Darienite.com; semicolons like this (“;”) separate individual comments, each one with a particular violation that triggers a point deduction from a perfect state score of 100 points]. Darienite.com will change abbreviations, punctuation and other grammar to fit our editorial style, usually silently, sometimes with brackets, you can see the original online.