Chipotle Is Working With Palantir to Track Food Safety Risks

The company is working on a “food safety risk platform” hosted on Palantir’s flagship software platform Foundry, according to screenshots viewed by WIRED. The platform appears to analyze factors like a store’s health department scores, pest incidents, and employee illnesses to assign a food safety score—basically, the store’s risk level.

Chipotle spokesperson Erin Wolford confirmed the initiative, but declined to comment further. Palantir did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

It's not known exactly when the partnership started or how widely the platform has been deployed, but it comes amid a particularly disastrous period for food safety. The Food and Drug Administration identified more than 12,800 illnesses tied to foodborne outbreaks so far this year, most from a massive cyclospora outbreak connected to iceberg lettuce.