Powell Chipotle closed after reports of customer illnesses

The Chipotle at 9733 Sawmill Parkway in Powell was closed Monday following multiple complaints of food making customers sick.

The illness reports come from Iwaspoisoned.com, a website that consumers use to lodge complaints of what they believe to be foodborne illness.

The website, which is run by Patrick Quade, has six reports alleging 12 people became sick this past weekend after eating at the store. Three of the complaints were filed Monday, two on Sunday and one is from Saturday. One of the complaints said a family of four ate there this weekend and three of them became ill.

Chipotle said it is investigating the reports and that the store was closed Monday. Chipotle plans to reopen the location Tuesday.

“We take all claims of food safety very seriously, and we are currently looking into a few reports of illness at our Powell, Ohio, restaurant,” said Laurie Schalow, chief communications officer for Chipotle.

“We are not aware of any confirmed foodborne illness cases, and we are cooperating fully with the local health department.

Iwaspoisoned.com collects complaints from consumers on possible food poisoning cases and screens the reports for authenticity, Quade said. The site then uses the information to pinpoint what might be bigger problems with a particular location. Iwaspoisoned.com helped pinpoint the major outbreak at Chipotle locations in 2015.

The Chipotle store in Powell was last inspected by the Delaware General Health District on Thursday. The report cited two critical violations — one was for pinto and black beans that were not held at a high enough temperature, and one for cut lettuce that was not properly cooled after preparation. Both violations were corrected that day, according to the report.

On a positive note, the report also said, “Observed great hand-washing while on site.”

Chipotle has battled food safety concerns since 2015, when hundreds of people were sickened across the country, but mainly in Boston and California. In response, Chipotle made changes to the way it handles its ingredients, but food-safety issues have lingered for the chain.