WATERVILLE — The Huhtamaki manufacturing plant will temporarily lay off up to 30 workers as the company deals with a slowdown in demand for packaging used by the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain, according to the union representing employees at the plant.

Huhtamaki produces paper trays and bowls for the Denver-based fast-food company, which has been dealing with recent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses linked to its products.

Duane Lugdon, a staff representative for United Steelworkers International, said Wednesday morning that between 25-30 workers at Huhtamaki’s Waterville plant on College Avenue will be affected by the slowdown. The plant employs approximately 470 people.

A receptionist at Huhtamaki’s North America headquarters in De Soto, Kansas, said Wednesday that a spokesman was out of town and was not available to comment on the layoffs.

Lugdon said he expects workers to return to their jobs within six to eight weeks as Chipotle restores its customer base. The restaurant chain, which has 1,900 locations, announced earlier this week it’s closing all its restaurants for a day, Feb. 8, to discuss safety changes with employees and will begin “inviting customers back” after that.

“I fully expect that when they get their patronage rebuilt ordering at Huhtamaki should return to normal levels,” Lugdon said.

If workers aren’t back to work that soon, they will be recalled to fill in for people when the summer vacation season starts, Lugdon added.

The Chipotle products are a “sizable chunk” of Huhtamaki’s business, but the slowdown in ordering will not threaten the Waterville plant’s future, Lugdon said. The factory, which sprawls across the Waterville and Fairfield line, primarily makes Chinet brand paper tableware. Two or three other Huhtamaki plants in the U.S. make products for Chipotle, but Lugdon said he did not know if would be layoffs at those locations.

Chipotle’s fast Mexican-style food has surged in popularity across the U.S., but the company has recently dealt with food safety concerns after it temporarily closed dozens of stores in November following an E.Coli outbreak in Washington state and Oregon. A location in Boston was closed after more than 100 Boston College students became sick with norovirus transmitted at the restaurant. Those reports followed earlier issues at Chipotle restaurants in Minnesota and California.

The issues have caused Chipotle’s sales to plummet by an estimated 15 percent in the last quarter of 2015.

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