I don’t know about that.

But that’s amateur epidemiologist (and president of Taylor Farms Florida) Leonard Batti’s working theory on the 39 cases of E. coli O26 outbreak linked to Chipotle (via The Packer).

Leonard Batti, president of Orlando-based Taylor Farms Florida, a division of the Salinas, Calif.-based Taylor Fresh Foods Inc., said changes in the foodservice industry likely contributed to the Chipotle outbreak.

“It’s a classic example of what’s happening in foodservice today,” he said. “They made a decision a little less than a year ago to move away from fresh-cut and start cutting products in their facilities, somewhere around 1,700 restaurants.

“So basically, almost overnight, we had 1,700 new vegetable processors pop-up around the country. We’ve all been in fast-food restaurants. You never question their focus on food safety. I am not really surprised that we have what’s transpired with Chipotle.”

Uh, what? It sure seems like a supplier issue, not an on-site processing issue. But I’d like to see the data first.