Kill Step

Restaurants often employ a "kill step" to ensure that harmful bacteria do not make customers ill.

If you're heading to your favorite restaurant to grab a bite after worship, you might want to consider the risk you're taking.

According to a 2014 study, eating out doubles your risk of contracting food poisoning compared to cooking and eating at home. One in six of us will get a foodborne illness this year, and it happens so frequently that it's not uncommon to hear about a restaurant shutdown or food recall because people have gotten sick. Rather than asking if you want fries, maybe your server should ask, "Would you like some Pepto with that?"

One of the most recent high-profile cases of restaurant retching involved the popular chain Chipotle Mexican Grill. In late 2015, 55 customers across 11 states contracted E. coli after eating at one of the chain's stores, followed by another report of an outbreak of norovirus that sickened 80 customers at just one store in Boston. Chipotle's reputation and stock prices took a major hit as a result.

But instead of making excuses, the company got ...