U.S. federal health officials are investigating a salmonella outbreak linked to jalapenos that has sickened 345 people in 27 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Wednesday.
The CDC and public health officials said businesses should check their inventory for the recalled jalapeno peppers and not sell or serve them.
The jalapenos were supplied by California-based Coast Citrus Distributors and sourced from Mexico, the CDC said. They were served at Chipotle Mexican Grill, Qdoba and other restaurants.
The Minnesota Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed it was investigating a salmonella outbreak tied to several Mexican-style, quick-service restaurants, with jalapenos being the suspected source. Officials identified 110 cases in the state.
Chipotle made up the majority of those cases where health officials were able to reach impacted consumers for an interview — who ate at the chain between mid-June and mid-July — but not all.
“Based on all the evidence so far, the food that made people sick was served at other restaurants as well,” Carlota Medus, senior epidemiologist supervisor in the Minnesota Department of Health’s Foodborne Diseases Unit, said in a statement to The Associated Press.
Chipotle Mexican Grill said Tuesday that it had removed jalapenos from its restaurants after determining the peppers could potentially be tied to the salmonella outbreak public health officials are investigating.
In a brief statement, Chipotle maintained that the “health and safety of our guests and employees is our highest priority” — and that it had pulled the jalapenos out of an abundance of caution and “replaced them with product from different growers” in all locations where a previous common lot had been distributed.
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“We have a robust ingredient traceability system and, upon learning of a potential Salmonella outbreak in the supply chain impacting wholesalers and restaurants, we identified jalapenos from a particular grower in Sinaloa, Mexico and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors as a common ingredient from a common lot, proactively removed them from the restaurants where they had been distributed, and replaced them with product from different growers,” the company added.
Chipotle said that the recalled jalapeno peppers are no longer in Chipotle restaurants and “given these actions, the CDC and FDA have said they do not consider there to be a current ongoing risk from Chipotle restaurants in this outbreak.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it is conducting a traceback investigation based on where ill people reported eating during the timeframe of interest.
The FDA said on Tuesday that it is working with the CDC and state and local partners to investigate “illnesses in a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Javiana infections linked to jalapeño peppers from Sinaloa, Mexico and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors to distributors, restaurants, and food service companies, including Mexican-style restaurants in the U.S.”
“Based on epidemiological information collected by CDC, a total of 345 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella have been reported from 27 states. There have been 36 hospitalizations and zero deaths reported,” the FDA said.
Minnesota and Colorado currently account for a majority of the cases, with 110 each. Illinois has reported 30 cases and Kansas has reported 13.
The other states included in the outbreak are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The illnesses started on dates ranging from June 19 to July 20, according to the FDA.
“Of the 191 people interviewed, 177 (93%) reported eating at a Mexican-style restaurant before their illness, including Chipotle Mexican Grill and QDOBA, with meal dates ranging from June 14, 2026, to July 14, 2026,” the FDA’s update added.
The FDA said that Qdoba ceased the use of jalapenos in its stores on July 28 and that Qdoba restaurants are no longer serving jalapenos.
Global News has reached out to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Public Health Agency of Canada to inquire about any potential outbreak in Canada, but has not received a response.
Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include diarrhea, fever, severe vomiting, dehydration and stomach cramps. Most people who get sick recover within a week. Infections can be more severe in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, who may require hospitalization.
The latest salmonella outbreak arrives as a handful of fast-casual chains are still wrestling with the fallout of a separate, wider cyclospora — a diarrhea-causing parasitic illness — outbreak linked to shredded lettuce that has sickened thousands of Americans.
The outbreak in the U.S. has been linked to iceberg lettuce from a Mexican supplier and to several Taco Bell locations across multiple states.
In an announcement last month, the CDC said shredded lettuce from a single supplier in Mexico was sent to Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, and warned the public not to consume the green in those parts of the country.
The federal warnings to the public did not identify the Mexican supplier by name.
After reviewing the results of a test for the cyclospora parasite on lettuce from Mexico, the FDA said that the findings were deemed to be a false positive.
“Due to the complexity in the detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts reanalyzed the sample results and concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,” the federal agency said in an update.
—With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press
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