Free Chipotle Burrito

Fast food is pretty reliable. That stuff has been nuked and processed so many times, there's really no possibility of getting a major gastro-intestinal illness like what was detailed in Fast Food Nation a while back. Chipotle actually got people sick recently because of the "freshness" aspect of what they were pushing. And let's not pretend that Asia is the capital of food cleanliness. I definitely wouldn't want to eat my pork anything short of fully-cooked over there.
I think a big reason why a lot of westerners (especially Americans) can't stomach the food in Asia (especially street food) is because they're so used to super processed foods with tons of sodium and preservatives. If you were born in Asia and grew up eating things that are cooked the way they are over there, your stomach has grown accustomed to it and has developed specific types of bacteria to be able to properly digest it.

Street food in most parts of Asia and South America are made in conditions that would be an absolute and blatant violation of health standards here in the U.S., but everyone there grows up eating it and their bodies have become used to it. The reverse can happen too, processed food with too many preservatives and chemicals and whatnot can cause people from less-developed countries to have upset stomach because they're used to eating fresh food that was most likely grown/raised by them or one of their neighbors.
 
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I am not pretending Asia is clean but food "processing" consists of a rusty machete and a cast iron pot with untreated water heated by wood. I was horrified at first especially in the cities but you learn to let it go. None of the bathrooms have soap or treated water and most of the people still clean their ass with a hand and a bucket of water.

I design wastewater treatment plants and have seen workers pick money off the headworks screens and eat their lunch next to sludge dewatering or grit rooms. Either the weak die off or the body adapts.

Edit: What SLiGuy said is accurate. My wife came here, ate pizza for the first time in her life and blew mud for three days.
 
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I must be lucky. Moved to Hong Kong for a year in 2010. The best food I ever ate there was from the street vendors and illegal food stands that only rolled out at night (in Fu Tai). The one thing that seriously fucked me up over there was from Mos Burger. Had one of their turkey burgers and got dysentery for 9 days.
 
All. The. Damn. Time. I read somwhere that most people have a case of e.coli infection ~4 times a yar and just never realize it. The vast majority of folks are not at risk, and so have diarrhea for a few hours and its over.
The majority of my work these days is in food safety and FDA compliance for major food manufacturers. You'd be surprised how easy it is to have a MAJOR issue. All it takes in one lazy employee, one mistake. In that respect, the Chipotle issue doesn't phase me. It's par for the course for a company dealing in that amount of fresh ingredients (unlike McDonalds and the like).
Now, the BlueBell issue was a whole different case. That was a systemic effort to ignore standards, ignore the FDA and ignore warning signs.

I agree with you completely on this. You take more of a risk, not less, when dealing with fresh ingredients. Period.

The CDC information about this outbreak is interesting. http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2015/O26-11-15/index.html
 
All this Chipotle talk got me itchin' so I bought a Freebirds.....as I walked out, I got my Chipotle coupon.
 
I think a big reason why a lot of westerners (especially Americans) can't stomach the food in Asia (especially street food) is because they're so used to super processed foods with tons of sodium and preservatives. If you were born in Asia and grew up eating things that are cooked the way they are over there, your stomach has grown accustomed to it and has developed specific types of bacteria to be able to properly digest it.

Street food in most parts of Asia and South America are made in conditions that would be an absolute and blatant violation of health standards here in the U.S., but everyone there grows up eating it and their bodies have become used to it. The reverse can happen to, processed food with too many preservatives and chemicals and whatnot can cause people from less-developed countries to have upset stomach because they're used to eating fresh food that was most likely grown/raised by them or one of their neighbors.

I meant more specifically the pork that was pictured. I wouldn't eat that medium-rare and juicy or anything because of trichinosis, as fresh and organic as it looks. Even in Asia countries and regions have different standards. Japan (for example) is very modern if not more so than the US in terms of food practices (except for that fugu stuff, heh).
 
I agree with you completely on this. You take more of a risk, not less, when dealing with fresh ingredients. Period.

The CDC information about this outbreak is interesting. http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2015/O26-11-15/index.html

It isn't even limited to fresh products. It's anything. i have a client that makes food chemicals. Stuff used to fortify food (think iron and other minerals etc). It's all processed on one line of machines. And by processed, I generally mean, stirred, dried and packaged. Nothing exciting. BUT, for obvious reasons, the machines need to be cleaned between every run of different chemicals.
Let me tell you, all it takes is one employee to forget a step, and you can get contamination. Now, in that case it's not an issue because it's all food-grade stuff people eat anyway, but certain chemicals do funny things to texture or color.
 
I am not pretending Asia is clean but food "processing" consists of a rusty machete and a cast iron pot with untreated water heated by wood. I was horrified at first especially in the cities but you learn to let it go. None of the bathrooms have soap or treated water and most of the people still clean their ass with a hand and a bucket of water.

I design wastewater treatment plants and have seen workers pick money off the headworks screens and eat their lunch next to sludge dewatering or grit rooms. Either the weak die off or the body adapts.

Edit: What SLiGuy said is accurate. My wife came here, ate pizza for the first time in her life and blew mud for three days.

This is the also the reason that you should get a Hep A vaccine before you go... let's not pretend they don't ever get sick and contract diseases, they just don't give a shit about literally eating shit.

That said, I loved the street food I ate when traveling through Thailand/Vietnam/etc. and never had mud butt while I was there :D I'm also quite happy to eat my free Chipotle burrito tonight.
 
This is the also the reason that you should get a Hep A vaccine before you go... let's not pretend they don't ever get sick and contract diseases, they just don't give a shit about literally eating shit.

That said, I loved the street food I ate when traveling through Thailand/Vietnam/etc. and never had mud butt while I was there :D I'm also quite happy to eat my free Chipotle burrito tonight.
Most definitely, if you live in a "western" country and are traveling to certain parts of the world you should get any vaccines that you need. I am Vietnamese myself and we eat some pretty weird stuff, although to us its quite normal. Asians, generally speaking, are not shy of eating parts of the animal that most Americans would be terrified of. And I'm not even talking about brain or testicles or anything (I don't eat that stuff myself), just things like liver, gizzards, etc. that are considered weird to Americans.
 
And I'm not even talking about brain or testicles or anything (I don't eat that stuff myself), just things like liver, gizzards, etc. that are considered weird to Americans.

You can blame that on fast food! :p Chicken livers are delicious fried up nice and crispy.
 
Freebirds isn't even that great. It seems overrated, but then again people only seem to say it's amazing when they go there drunk.


Not the end of the world great or anything, but far and away from just OK.
 
You can blame that on fast food! :p Chicken livers are delicious fried up nice and crispy.

Churches Chicken used to sell boxes of fried hearts and gizzards. Now that was good shit right there.
 
their steak and black bean burrito with a side of guac and extra e coli is to die for

Thing is, you KNOW that is the safest place to eat at the moment because they got busted and they are under scrutiny now.
 
Haha good point.
I got my free burrito and will check tomorrow if the extras such as guac are included with coupon.
Also, that youtube video posted above was pretty cool.
 
Freebirds isn't even that great. It seems overrated, but then again people only seem to say it's amazing when they go there drunk.

Agreed. A few years ago I moved to Texas (never lived anywhere near the south prior). Multiple people told me I had to try freebirds, and went on and on about how great it was. Went once, wished I had just gone to the Chipotle down the street instead. It wasn't anything special.

I miss Whataburger, Shipleys, and amazing BBQ fucking everywhere. I am just fine never stepping into a Freebirds again.
 
Haha good point.
I got my free burrito and will check tomorrow if the extras such as guac are included with coupon.
Also, that youtube video posted above was pretty cool.

They didn't charge me extra for guac when I went. I didn't see any exclusions on the coupon. This is the time to load it up with double meat, guac, and anything else you can think of :p
 
I forgot about being able to do double meat but was able to get the guac for no extra charge as well.
 
I wouldn't touch anything from chipotle after the salmonella scare. Hell I don't even eat Taco Bell and they're both across the street from me.
 
I wouldn't touch anything from chipotle after the salmonella scare. Hell I don't even eat Taco Bell and they're both across the street from me.

Taco Bell is a member of the Yum Brands company. Some of the best food safety records out there...
 
Started hearing that Chipotle may have been a victim of corporate sabotage by Monsanto or another megafirm with vested interest in creating public fear of "organic" alternative sourcing of food products. Chipotle was a huge success and a rising star. For them to all of a sudden have this mystery outbreak in diverse parts of the country and that was not able to be traced to any of their ingredients does seem suspect. The norovirus in one store? Yeah, sure, sick employee that should have stayed home. Happens in all sorts of establishments. But the e.coli stuff that was occurring in geographically disperse clusters that don't represent the local/regional sourced products Chipotle uses, and it's a strain that reportedly doesn't even come from food products? Yeah I can respect that some people are thinking this might have been an act of sabotage.
 
Started hearing that Chipotle may have been a victim of corporate sabotage by Monsanto or another megafirm with vested interest in creating public fear of "organic" alternative sourcing of food products. Chipotle was a huge success and a rising star. For them to all of a sudden have this mystery outbreak in diverse parts of the country and that was not able to be traced to any of their ingredients does seem suspect. The norovirus in one store? Yeah, sure, sick employee that should have stayed home. Happens in all sorts of establishments. But the e.coli stuff that was occurring in geographically disperse clusters that don't represent the local/regional sourced products Chipotle uses, and it's a strain that reportedly doesn't even come from food products? Yeah I can respect that some people are thinking this might have been an act of sabotage.
Sorry, but that's not how it works.
Put it this way, let's assume that pork was the source. Pork isnt raised in that many places, so I guarantee that Chipotle has a finite number of sources and processing facilities. Same with their seasonings. ( Chipotle even references a single central kitches on their website)Or their avocados (and guac). It wouldn't be very hard AT ALL for there to be a single source that spreads all over and only is an issue where, say, the pork is undercooked or the guac isn't rotated out fast enough etc. It could be that contaminated product hit the majority of stores, but because a small few made a simple mistake, someone was exposed.

And no, the E.Coli strain found in the infected people (E.Coli 026) is a normal food pathogen. This was the same strain as in the Jimmy Johns sprouts a few years ago.

There's no tinfoil hat needed, no corporate espionage from a company that doesn't need to wrry about CHipotle. Chipotle was a $3.1b company in 2013. Monsanto was a $16b company in 2014. THey don't compete, and I GUARANTEE that Monsanto products go into or feed the animals that go into Chipotle products.
 
Sorry, but that's not how it works.
Put it this way, let's assume that pork was the source. Pork isnt raised in that many places, so I guarantee that Chipotle has a finite number of sources and processing facilities. Same with their seasonings. ( Chipotle even references a single central kitches on their website)Or their avocados (and guac). It wouldn't be very hard AT ALL for there to be a single source that spreads all over and only is an issue where, say, the pork is undercooked or the guac isn't rotated out fast enough etc. It could be that contaminated product hit the majority of stores, but because a small few made a simple mistake, someone was exposed.

And no, the E.Coli strain found in the infected people (E.Coli 026) is a normal food pathogen. This was the same strain as in the Jimmy Johns sprouts a few years ago.

There's no tinfoil hat needed, no corporate espionage from a company that doesn't need to wrry about CHipotle. Chipotle was a $3.1b company in 2013. Monsanto was a $16b company in 2014. THey don't compete, and I GUARANTEE that Monsanto products go into or feed the animals that go into Chipotle products.

Monsanto is actually a pretty small company, but I wouldn't put it past them to have an 'operations' department given their government entanglements. Still, it doesn't take much to sicken large numbers of people these days especially when you eschew carefully developed industrial food-safety procedures in favor of raw freshness right at the shop in a nationwide chain. The increased risk means it was bound to happen sooner or later.
 
This thread is turning into an X Files episode. I redeemed my first burrito coupon yesterday; had the barbacoa beef. No ill effects 12+ hours later. I have four remaining. Wish me luck.
 
Pretty safe bet that any time you hear about a conspiracy involving Monsanto, it's entirely made up by some organic tin foil hat wearing whackadoo.

Probably, but there's a reason why they are the ones who keep getting brought up... because they do some pretty outlandish shit.
 
Probably, but there's a reason why they are the ones who keep getting brought up... because they do some pretty outlandish shit.

Do they, though?
I mean really? The biggest thing they've gotten flak for recently is farmers caught reselling their seeds when the purchase agreement the farmers signed forbade it.
 
Do they, though?
I mean really? The biggest thing they've gotten flak for recently is farmers caught reselling their seeds when the purchase agreement the farmers signed forbade it.

People don't like them because of GMO and their Seed rights.

You aren't allowed to cultivate seeds from plants grown using their seeds and they produce seeds for specific parts of the world (mainly corn). Monsanto isn't really a fucked up company, just ones with strict rights to their product.

Too bad I have an e.coli allergy. :)

I don't think they even traced the source of it?

And they probably won't. This isn't the first time that an eatery that produces food based off of only fresh product has given their customers E.coli.
 
People don't like them because of GMO and their Seed rights.

You aren't allowed to cultivate seeds from plants grown using their seeds and they produce seeds for specific parts of the world (mainly corn). Monsanto isn't really a fucked up company, just ones with strict rights to their product.

Fair, i suppose, but it's not really "outlandish."
 
I can confirm that guac is gratis with this coupon, but double meat is an extra cost.
 
Right, like I said, the organic tin foil hat wearing whackadoos.

This.
Anyone who has done 5 minutes of research would realize that the terms mean nothing in reality and are just marketing terms. Alas, the average American is very susceptible to marketing and pseudoscience.
If you want a healthy dose check this out- http://foodbabe.com/
 
This.
Anyone who has done 5 minutes of research would realize that the terms mean nothing in reality and are just marketing terms. Alas, the average American is very susceptible to marketing and pseudoscience.
If you want a healthy dose check this out- http://foodbabe.com/

There are legitimate though not necessarily coherent concerns when companies push products whose long-term effects are not yet known with government collusion. Better safe than sorry - one must assume that these companies are more interested in their bottom line than in the public health, instances in which these interests coincide temporarily notwithstanding.
 
There are legitimate though not necessarily coherent concerns when companies push products whose long-term effects are not yet known with government collusion. Better safe than sorry - one must assume that these companies are more interested in their bottom line than in the public health, instances in which these interests coincide temporarily notwithstanding.

Most of these very vocal people (ie. Food Babe) know very little about what they're talking about, though. I'd really like to see Food Babe drink a large serving of organic, non-GMO bleach.
 
There are legitimate though not necessarily coherent concerns when companies push products whose long-term effects are not yet known with government collusion. Better safe than sorry - one must assume that these companies are more interested in their bottom line than in the public health, instances in which these interests coincide temporarily notwithstanding.
Not that I've ever read. The probelm is that the vast, overwhelming number of people saying these things are uneducated. They are the ones who claim that you shouldn't eat anything you can't pronounce, and nonsense like that. These are the people who had Dunkin Doughnuts remove titanium dioxide from their products. http://phys.org/news/2015-03-dunkin-donuts-ditches-titanium-dioxide.html
This is a compound that has been in use in food for a century, and there is no known instance of it every being a problem. No research has indicated that we should fear anything. but a marketing campaign equating to eating a golf club swayed the company. It's just silly.


Most of these very vocal people (ie. Food Babe) know very little about what they're talking about, though.
Read her page about hamburger buns and her insistence that diglycerides (VERY simple fats and oils) are poison.
 
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