NEW YORK — Chipotle has been served with a federal subpoena as part of a criminal investigation tied to a norovirus outbreak at one of its restaurants.
The subpoena, received last month, requires Chipotle to produce a broad range of documents tied to a restaurant in Simi Valley, California, where the outbreak took place in August, the company said Wednesday.
The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Representatives from those offices were not immediately available for comment.
Doug Beach, a manager of the food program at Ventura County’s Environmental Health Division, told The Associated Press Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney’s office had requested records from the his office regarding the Chipotle case about a month ago.
“That was a first for us,” Beach said in a phone interview.
Beach said Chipotle had been cooperative with the county’s investigation, which uncovered issues such as unclean equipment and employees without the necessary food handling permits.
