Burrito rap trap

Chipotle swelters as probe expands

Chipotle is back on the DC grill.

The Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations is probing a norovirus outbreak that sickened more than 135 people who ate at a Chipotle restaurant last week in Virginia.

The July 19 subpoena, which one prominent expert described as “highly unusual,” was revealed by the burrito chain in a securities filing Wednesday.

The subpoena comes as the former restaurant hot spot struggles to rebuild consumer loyalty. Shares fell 2.3 percent and are off 9.7 percent year to date.

“Chipotle is under greater scrutiny than any other US restaurant,” said food illness expert and lawyer Bill Marler, who previously has represented sickened customers.

The US Justice Department launched a probe in January 2016 following a massive food illness outbreak that sickened hundreds of people in at least nine states in 2015.

“It’s unusual for [the feds] to be focused on a particular restaurant,” Marler added. “I can only assume that they are seeing a similar problem that looks like [norovirus outbreaks in] the Simi Valley and Boston.”

Marler was referring to an August 2015 norovirus outbreak in Simi Valley, Calif., that affected 234 Chipotle customers, as well as a December 2015 outbreak during which 140 Boston College students fell ill.

Chipotle, run by Chief Executive Steve Ells, said in the filing that “it is not possible at this time to determine whether we will incur, or to reasonably estimate the amount of, any fines or penalties in connection with the investigation pursuant to which the subpoena was issued.”

Restaurant execs also were forced to grapple with a recent incident at a Dallas location where rats were reportedly dropping from the ceiling.

A spokesman for the FDA said the agency doesn’t comment on possible, pending or ongoing litigation.