Food & Beverage

Chipotle: 'Robust ingredient traceability system' flagged jalapeños tied to salmonella probe

Photo: Chipotle

August 5, 2026

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Chipotle Mexican Grill has reiterated that jalapeños identified from a common lot remain the focus of its internal investigation into a salmonella outbreak affecting several foodservice retailers, including restaurants in Minnesota.

In a statement to FastCasual, Laurie Schalow, Chipotle's chief corporate affairs and food safety officer, said the company's traceability protocols allowed it to quickly isolate the ingredient and remove it from affected restaurants.

"We have a robust ingredient traceability system and, upon learning of a potential Salmonella outbreak in the supply chain impacting several food service retailers, we proactively identified jalapeños as a potential common ingredient from a common lot, removed them from the restaurants where they had been distributed, and replaced them with product from different growers," she said.

Chipotle said Tuesday that it began tracing ingredients after learning of a possible outbreak and determined jalapeños from a shared lot could be linked to the illnesses. The company removed the peppers "out of an abundance of caution" and is continuing to cooperate with public health authorities as they work to determine the full source of the contamination.

More than 110 people in Minnesota have been sickened, according to state health officials.