Chipotle Uses Dog and Cat Meat, Closing All Restaurants-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Reports have gone viral that Chipotle is closing because of an E. coli contamination linked to its use of dog and cat meat.
The Truth:
Chipotle is not closing all its stores in the U.S.
The rumor that Chipotle is closing every restaurant in the U.S. went viral in early November 2015 after Chipotle temporary closed a number of locations because of an E. coli outbreak.
On November 3, 2015, Chipotle announced that it would temporarily close 43 restaurants in Oregon and Washington because of an “E. coli incident.”
A total of 39 people in the Pacific Northwest had been hospitalized after being exposed to E. coli while dining at Chipotle, a local ABC News affiliate in Washington State reported.
A week later, on November 10, Chipotle announced that it had concluded an investigation into the E. coli outbreak and reopened all 43 restaurants in Washington and Oregon. Meat served at 11 of the restaurants tested positive for E. coli. The company said that no known cases had been reported at restaurants outside of the Pacific Northwest.
In the meantime, false reports that Chipotle was closing all of its restaurants because of E. coli contamination, or because it had been discovered that Chipotle serves dog and cat meat, swept across the Internet.
The fake news website Huzlers was behind a false report that Chipotle had closed 60 restaurants because of an E. coli outbreak related to Chipotle’s use of dog and cat meat:
It is being reported that the popular restaurant chain ‘Chipotle Mexican Grill’, more commonly known as simply ‘Chipotle’, is currently being investigated for allegedly using dog and cat meat in their dishes causing the E. coli outbreak.
The FDA suspected the chain was using dog and cat meat when an FDA inspector stumbled upon multiple live dogs and cat, as well as dog and cat corpses in one Chipotle factory located in Denver. The inspector notified the authorities and the factory was shut down. The FDA will soon force all Chipotle restaurants in the U.S. to prevent people from consuming dog and cat meat.
That story tricked many people into believing that Chipotle actually used dog and cat meat, but Huzlers is “the most notorious urban satirical entertainment website in the world,” according to a disclaimer on its homepage.
The website FeedNewz.com also “pranked” more than 8 million people with false report headlined, “Chipotle announced all stores will be closed by March 2016.” Once you click on the link, however, your taken to a page that says, “You got owned!”
So, it’s true that Chipotle temporarily closed a number of restaurants to investigate an E. coli outbreak. But reports that Chipotle is closing all restaurants, or that it serves dog and cat met, are false.