I love you, Chipotle. Why must you try to kill me?

As the title implies, I love Chipotle. I've been a diehard supporter from day one, not even slowing down during the infamous E. coli, salmonella and norovirus outbreak of 2016. Instead of being afraid, I took advantage of the shorter lines and loaded up my rice bowls while everyone else was attempting to stay away. But shortly after those incidents died down, I noticed a food prep practice that had me gagging...literally. Not so badly that I didn't take my chicken bowl home and devour it with zeal, but so much so that I mentioned it to the manager.

Again and again.

In fact, I've pointed this issue out to several store managers over the past six months and called Chipotle's corporate office to explain why a simple step in their food prep process is putting me, my family and every other customer at risk several times each day. I received a free burrito coupon as a thank you for my feedback. Unfortunately, my comments weren't intended as feedback. They were a demand that hasn't yet been heeded.

What is this egregious act of customer endangerment, you ask? Well, you've probably witnessed employees removing empty heating trays from the food prep line and replacing them with full trays of food. Obviously, that happens throughout the day as they replenish their fresh offerings. But where they go tragically wrong is by lifting the empty trays over other trays full of fresh food to get them out of the way. The reason that's so dangerous is because the trays are sitting in baths of hot water. And that hot water, which is laden with old food and possibly teeming with bacteria, then drips into the fresh food.

I've watched it happen over and over again. I know Chipotle has been around for a long time now and that hot water is essential to keeping the hot food heated to a safe temperature. But allowing it to drip into other food is unacceptable. And it's probably a big part of the reason so many people have gotten sick while eating there.

So what can Chipotle do to fix this? Well, the obvious solution is to switch from a water warming system to an electric system that most other 'prepare-as-you-order' fast food restaurants use that rely on a heating element underneath the pan to keep the food hot. Those designs, similar to my home rice cooker, don't create any steam or condensation that can drip on other food. But an even easier (and free) solution that can be implemented instantly in every one of the 2000+ stores worldwide is to simply double pan the hot food. That way, when the pan with the food is lifted, it's dry on the bottom and nothing drips into other food. It's not rocket science, Mr. Ells. Sure, the water temperature may need to be cranked up to ensure the hot food stays at a safe temperature, but that's a small price to pay to keep the rest of the food on the line clean and bacteria-free.

I'll continue to visit my local Chipotle many times each week, but it won't be until I see this practice changed that I'll feel confident that my 'clean' food is as clean on the line as it was coming off the farm.