Hundreds sickened in 27 US states by salmonella-tainted jalapeños linked to Chipotle and QDOBA

Topline

The CDC is warning restaurants against selling jalapeños from a certain grower in Mexico after the pepper was linked to a salmonella outbreak that has hospitalized 36 people and sickened hundreds.

Key Facts

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says officials have traced the illnesses back to jalapeño peppers grown in Sinaloa, Mexico and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors to wholesale clients.
• The peppers, which have made people sick in 27 states, were served at thousands of Chipotle Mexican Grill and QDOBA locations and at other restaurants.
• Both Chipotle and QDOBA have stopped serving the affected jalapeños at their combined 4,850 locations in the United States, and the CDC says there's no ongoing risk to the restaurants’ customers.
• Both restaurants normally include jalapeños in their guacamole, pico de gallo and chili-corn salsas.

What to Watch For

The Food and Drug Administration is still working to determine if the affected peppers were sold directly to consumers at grocery stores.

What Is Salmonella?

Salmonella is the name of both an illness and the bacteria that causes it. Salmonella live in the intestines of people and animals, and people can get infected in a number of ways, but usually through eating contaminated food. Salmonella infections are common and sicken about 1.35 million people in the United States every year, according to the CDC. Infection is more common in the summer because warmer weather and unrefrigerated foods create ideal conditions for the bacteria to grow, and antimicrobial-resistant salmonella infections are on the rise. Most people with salmonella infection experience diarrhea, stomach cramps, headache, nausea and vomiting.

Big Number

1 in 25. That’s how many packages of chicken at the grocery store are contaminated with salmonella, per the CDC.

When Was the Last Big Salmonella Outbreak?

More than 1,000 people were sickened across 37 states in 2021 when whole fresh onions imported from Chihuahua, Mexico caused an American salmonella outbreak. No deaths were reported, but 260 people were hospitalized. Public health officials are currently investigating several multistate outbreaks of salmonella linked to contact with backyard poultry, which so far have sickened more than 800 people and killed someone in Washington state.

Does This Have Anything to Do with Taylor Farms?

No. Taylor Farms has been linked to an outbreak of cyclosporiasis that has sickened more than 20,000 people and killed two. The CDC has said the illness, caused by the Cyclospora cayetanensis parasite, likely came from contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico, but there is no indication the two outbreaks are connected.