 "Photo: Erik Castro")
More than 25 students with food poisoning found themselves in the Urgent Care ward of the University Health Services over the weekend, UHS Associate Director Theresa Spalding said Monday.
Spalding said a doctor noticed that most of her patients had eaten at Chipotle Grill on Guadalupe Street.
Food poisoning, a kind of gastroenteritis, is the irritation and inflammation of the digestive tract that causes abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea followed by dehydration.
RTF junior Ashok Subramanian had the misfortune of experiencing all these symptoms in 20-minute intervals from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. He had chicken tacos for lunch Wednesday from Chipotle.
Chipotle was founded in 1993 by CEO and professional chef Steve Ells. In 1998, McDonald's invested a minority stake in Chipotle, the first time it had ever invested outside its own company.
While helping fund the burrito company's expansion and analyze its market data, McDonald's discovered that 55 percent of Chipotle customers are there four times a month or more.
"Is it wrong for me to be craving Chipotle right now?" Subramanian asked his girlfriend after vomiting left him famished.
Marsha Milan, a spokeswoman for Chipotle, said that representatives from the Austin/Travis County Health Department came the following day to investigate the health procedures of the restaurant, such as the temperatures of cooked and raw food, cleaning procedures and the fridge temperature. She said the inspectors did not find anything that didn't meet Chipotle's or the A/TCHD's standards.
"So far we haven't found any correlation [between Chipotle and the victims]," Milan said. She added that the A/TCHD had informed her there were only 24 complaints of food poisoning, six of which were linked to Chipotle.
Now that the preliminary investigation is completed, it is up to the surveillance team to determine the cause, said Bob Corona of the A/TCHD. After interviewing patrons and taking samples, "It could take from a few days to a few weeks to get the results," he said.
Doctors told Angela Rivera, a senior Asian cultures and languages major, that finding the cause of illness would be difficult because the affected patients had eaten different meals. Rivera had a vegetarian burrito.
Subramanian said his doctor guessed that it might have been the salsa, because salsa without preservatives, like Chipotle's, can grow bacteria if not refrigerated quickly.
Rivera said she was told by a doctor that food poisoning could have spread if a worker didn't wash his or her hands.
"If that's true, then that pisses me off because there's no excuse for poor hygiene," she said.
Spalding said those suffering from the symptoms of food poisoning should be sure to drink lots of fluid to avoid dehydration.
"Good hand washing is also very important," she said.
After a few days of recuperation, Subramanian said he took back what he told his girlfriend about craving Chipotle. Rivera has been wary of any food in general since her ordeal.
"I want my five bucks back for that burrito," she said.
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