Chipotle food safety: the brand’s program, in its own words
Chipotle’s published food safety program: an FDA HACCP system in every restaurant, quarterly EcoSure audits, ServSafe-certified managers, three days of sick leave from day one, sous vide steak, blanched jalapeños and lot-code traceability, all quoted from the brand’s own page; this site prints no inspection results.
CP Menus review deskReviewed 28 September 2026Prices read 25 September 2026 at 368 restaurantsHow every figure gets here
The program in the brand’s words
| Rule | Chipotle’s own words | Where |
|---|---|---|
| The system | “All our restaurants operate under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, by which we identify food safety risks and implement corrective actions when needed.” | Chipotle food safety |
| Sick leave | “Our sick leave policy, in which restaurant employees are automatically given three days of sick leave from their first day of employment, is designed to reduce this risk.” | Chipotle food safety |
| The Food Safety Seven | “Chipotle’s "Food Safety Seven" include: work healthy, work clean, keep produce safe, cook food to correct temperatures, hold hot and cold foods at specified temperatures, maintain sanitary conditions, and call for help when needed.” | Chipotle food safety |
| Steak | “We use the sous vide process at the commissary level for our steak so that we can prevent raw beef from ever entering our restaurants.” | Chipotle food safety |
| Jalapeños | “Before jalapeños can be diced, they are blanched according to well-defined procedures, while keeping crew member safety in mind.” | Chipotle food safety |
| Since 2015 | “Following the food safety incidents in 2015, we have significantly increased the number of internal and third-party inspections, which complement mandatory state and local health department inspections.” | Chipotle food safety |
| Audits | “Additionally, we partner with an independent food safety audit division of Ecolab, called EcoSure, to provide rigorous quarterly food safety audits of every Chipotle restaurant in the United States and Canada.” | Chipotle food safety |
| Traceability | “Our traceability program allows us to identify the menu-item ingredients that have traveled from the supplier, down to the lot code, to each restaurant.” | Chipotle food safety |
| The council | “In 2016, we established the Food Safety Advisory Council comprised of industry-leading food safety experts.” | Chipotle food safety |
| Training | “We require our in-restaurant management teams to be trained and certified in food safety by ServSafe, a specialized, nationally recognized third-party program.” | Chipotle food safety |
| Pasteurization | “Yes. All of the cheese and Sour Cream at Chipotle are made with pasteurized milk.” | Queso Blanco |
| MSG | “No. Chipotle does not use added MSG (monosodium glutamate) in any of its food.” | Queso Blanco |
Chipotle publishes one food safety page, and this page quotes it whole rather than paraphrasing it. The statements are the brand’s claims about its own program; this site does not audit restaurants and prints no inspection results, because it has read none. What it can add is where the program shows in the records it does read.
Where the program shows in the menu
- The steak is cooked sous vide before it reaches a restaurant, in the brand’s words, and the record for it is 150 calories and 21 g of protein per 4 oz.
- The salsas are made in the restaurant from produce the brand says is handled under the Food Safety Seven; the fresh tomato salsa record is 25 calories per 3.5 oz with 550 mg of sodium.
- The barbacoa, Sofritas and black beans are cooked in central kitchens, in the brand’s words on its salt; their records are 170, 150 and 130 calories per 4 oz.
- The family meals carry the brand’s own note on eating them: “We recommend you consume your food immediately for optimal taste and food safety.”
Allergens are a separate page
Food safety and allergens are different questions; the brand keeps them on different pages, and so does this site. The chart’s own caveats, “Individual foods may come into contact with one another during preparation, which is not reflected on this chart.” and “Although we do not use eggs, mustard, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, shellfish, or fish as ingredients in our food, Chipotle cannot guarantee the complete absence of these allergens in its restaurants.”, are on the allergen policy page with how this site reads the chart.
What the brand says it does not use
“Being real means we only use 53 ingredients you can pronounce”. “At Chipotle, we have no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.” “Chipotle uses a premium quality, non-GMO High Oleic Sunflower Oil to cook Chips, taco shells, and some specific menu items.”
How this page is read
Every sentence about the program on this page is the brand’s, quoted from its food safety page and its FAQ, read 26 September 2026 and linked below. This site prints no health department results, no incident history beyond the brand’s own reference to 2015, and no verdict; a reader who wants inspection records has their local health department.
Questions
Is Chipotle food safe?
This site prints the brand’s own program, quoted, and no verdict; the brand says every restaurant runs under an FDA HACCP system with quarterly third-party audits and ServSafe-certified managers.
What happened in 2015?
The brand refers to it without detail: “Following the food safety incidents in 2015, we have significantly increased the number of internal and third-party inspections, which complement mandatory state and local health department inspections.”
Who audits Chipotle restaurants?
“Additionally, we partner with an independent food safety audit division of Ecolab, called EcoSure, to provide rigorous quarterly food safety audits of every Chipotle restaurant in the United States and Canada.”
Is the steak cooked in the restaurant?
“We use the sous vide process at the commissary level for our steak so that we can prevent raw beef from ever entering our restaurants.”
Does Chipotle use MSG?
“No. Chipotle does not use added MSG (monosodium glutamate) in any of its food.”
Is the cheese pasteurized?
“Yes. All of the cheese and Sour Cream at Chipotle are made with pasteurized milk.”
What is the Food Safety Seven?
“Chipotle’s "Food Safety Seven" include: work healthy, work clean, keep produce safe, cook food to correct temperatures, hold hot and cold foods at specified temperatures, maintain sanitary conditions, and call for help when needed.”
Can Chipotle trace an ingredient?
“Our traceability program allows us to identify the menu-item ingredients that have traveled from the supplier, down to the lot code, to each restaurant.”
Do sick employees work?
The brand’s policy: “Our sick leave policy, in which restaurant employees are automatically given three days of sick leave from their first day of employment, is designed to reduce this risk.”