Chipotle was slow to alert officials to norovirus outbreak

Chipotle Mexican Grill executives could be facing jail time.

The Denver-based chain said Wednesday it had received a grand jury subpoena as part of a criminal probe being run out of the LA US Attorney’s office.

The grand jury is investigating Chipotle’s food safety practices at one of its Simi Valley, Calif., restaurants, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The probe follows outbreaks of E. coli and norovirus at several Chipotle restaurants across the country over the last six months that sickened roughly 500 customers.

Food safety concerns led to a 30 percent decline in sales in December, the company said in the filing. That’s much worse than previously expected.

News of the criminal probe and the sales dip helped push shares of the embattled restaurant chain down 5 percent, to $426.72.

The federal Food and Drug Administration is assisting in the probes.

The focus of their probe is the Chipotle Mexican Grill at 1263 Simi Town Center Way, where a massive norovirus outbreak in August sickened more than 200 people, including 18 employees.

Chipotle did not immediately inform local health officials when at least two of its workers became ill, as required by California law.

“They informed us, but not in a timely manner,” Doug Beach, manager of community services at the Ventura County Environmental Health Division, which covers Simi Valley, told The Post.

Ticked-off agency officials sent a letter to Chipotle in September listing a litany of violations at the restaurant — including fruit flies and unlicensed food handlers.

In the letter, the agency noted that Chipotle failed to alert authorities when it became aware of a problem.

In fact, Chipotle waited at least five days to notify authorities — and then only after it had closed and reopened the restaurant.

By then more than 60 customers and employees were sick, according to Beach and the inspection report.

The Post reported first on Wednesday on nypost.com the untimely notification.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a nine-state outbreak of E. coli that sickened at least 58 people in October and November.

The Ventura health agency has had several conversations with federal investigators, the most recent of which was in November, Beach said.

The FDA and LA prosecutors declined to comment.

The need for a timely notification “was crystal-clear because of the large number of employees reporting an illness, which should have told the company that something was terribly wrong,” said Shawn Stevens, the founder of Food Industry Council, which works with restaurant management on food safety issues.

“The FDA is probably asking for documents or e-mails that went back and forth between corporate headquarters in Denver and Simi Valley,” speculated Bill Marler, a food-borne illness lawyer who represents Chipotle customers who became ill last year.

Meanwhile, Chipotle lowered its guidance for the fourth quarter and said that it expects same-store sales in the period to decline 14.6 percent — much more than the 8 percent to 11 percent it had previously forecast.

Chipotle had no comment on its actions in Simi Valley.