--- title: "Jalapeño Salmonella Outbreak Lawsuits: Chipotle, QDOBA and Coast Citrus Distributors — 431 Sick in 32 States" date: 2026-08-04T11:25:00-07:00 author: Bill Marler canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/chipotle-linked-to-salmonella-outbreak-tied-to-peppers" section: Litigation Landing Pages --- [Foodborne Illnesses](/foodborne-illnesses) / [Salmonella](https://marlerclark.com/foodborne-illnesses/salmonella) / # Jalapeño Salmonella Outbreak Lawsuits: Chipotle, QDOBA and Coast Citrus Distributors — 431 Sick in 32 States Marler Clark filed the first lawsuit in this outbreak on August 14, 2026, and represents people sickened by these peppers. - • **Cases:** 431 - • **Hospitalizations:** 57 - • **Deaths:** 0 - • **States:** 32 - • **Illness onsets:** June 19 to August 2, 2026 - • **Pathogen:** *Salmonella* Javiana - • **Source:** fresh jalapeño peppers grown in Sinaloa, Mexico, imported and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors, LLC - • **Status:** open at both [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/outbreaks/javiana-08-26/index.html) and [FDA](https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-salmonella-jalapeno-august-2026); last federal update August 21, 2026 **What the government has found** Epidemiologic and traceback data show that jalapeño peppers from Sinaloa, Mexico, distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors, are contaminated with *Salmonella* Javiana. In its [most recent update](https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/outbreaks/javiana-08-26/investigation.html), CDC reported 431 confirmed illnesses in 32 states, 57 hospitalizations and no deaths. Of the 224 people interviewed, 203 — ninety-one percent — reported eating at a Mexican-style restaurant before they got sick, including Chipotle Mexican Grill and QDOBA, with meal dates running from June 14 to July 16, 2026. Investigators identified twenty-eight illness clusters at Chipotle and QDOBA locations in eight states. The commonly reported ingredients in those clusters were jalapeño peppers, red onion, cilantro and avocado. The sick range in age from under one to eighty-five, with a median age of thirty, and fifty-seven of the 376 people with hospitalization information available, or fifteen percent, were admitted. Whole genome sequencing found no predicted antibiotic resistance in 428 of the samples; three were predicted resistant to one or more antibiotics, and one of those was also predicted nonsusceptible to ciprofloxacin. FDA’s traceback identified a common grower in Sinaloa that supplies Coast Citrus as the likely source. That grower has still not been named publicly. **Where the 431 people lived** **State** **Cases** **State** **Cases** Alabama 2 New Jersey 1 Arkansas 1 New Mexico 4 California 1 North Carolina 3 Colorado 118 North Dakota 2 Florida 1 Ohio 3 Georgia 28 Oklahoma 9 Illinois 33 Pennsylvania 2 Indiana 6 South Carolina 8 Kansas 14 Tennessee 8 Kentucky 1 Texas 4 Louisiana 1 Utah 1 Michigan 5 Virginia 2 Minnesota 129 Washington 1 Missouri 8 West Virginia 2 Montana 8 Wisconsin 12 Nebraska 6 Wyoming 7 State counts are read from CDC’s case count map of August 19, 2026, and total 431 across thirty-two states. These are states of residence, not states of exposure — a person counted in one state may have eaten the peppers in another, and every state where product arrived and nobody was tested is missing from this table entirely. **The dates matter more than the total** - • **July 20** — Chipotle switched jalapeño suppliers for affected restaurants. - • **July 22** — Coast Citrus began a limited recall of bulk jalapeños. - • **July 28** — QDOBA stopped serving jalapeños. - • **August 2** — the last reported illness began. - • **August 5** — FDA and CDC publicly named jalapeños, Sinaloa and Coast Citrus. The company agreed to recall the remaining implicated peppers and stopped importing from the grower. - • **August 8** — FSIS issued a [public health alert](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/fsis-issues-public-health-alert-various-meat-and-poultry-products-containing-fda-0) for meat and poultry products containing the peppers. - • **August 9** — [Taylor Fresh Foods recalled](https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/taylor-fresh-foods-recalls-products-made-jalapeno-peppers-because-possible-health-risk) products made with them, sold at Hannaford, Kroger, Stop and Shop, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart and Whole Foods. - • **August 12** — [Whole Foods Market recalled](https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/whole-foods-market-announces-recall-select-salsas-guacamole-pico-de-gallo-and-prepared-foods) salsas, guacamole, pico de gallo and prepared foods. - • **August 14** — [NatureBest Precut & Produce recalled](https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/naturebest-precut-produce-llc-voluntarily-recalls-products-containing-jalapenos-due-potential) NatureBest and H-E-B products sold in Texas and Louisiana. - • **August 20** — FDA opened a [Major Product Recalls page](https://www.fda.gov/safety/major-product-recalls/2026-recalls-food-products-associated-fresh-jalapenos-sinaloa-mexico-and-distributed-coast-citrus) pulling the downstream recalls into one list. Every recall a consumer could actually see was announced after the last person in this outbreak had already gotten sick. Neither agency has updated the record since August 21. **What we asked for in August, and where it stands** In early August, when the public count was [212 with no product named](https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/at-least-212-sick-with-salmonella-javiana-from-jalapenos-two-states-confirmed-and-nobody-will-yet-name-the-grower-here-are-the-questions-somebody-should-have-to-answer/), I asked for four things. Two have happened. Coast Citrus recalled, and the downstream recalls followed. FDA published a consolidated distribution list on August 20, so a buyer, broker or retailer can now check one page instead of guessing. Two have not. The grower in Sinaloa still has a name that only the people who do not have to say it know, and nothing about the federal record has moved in more than two weeks. **Why the 2008 outbreak still matters here** Investigators chased tomatoes for months in the summer of 2008 while [1,442 people got sick](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18756191/) and the domestic tomato market was destroyed. The [New England Journal of Medicine account](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1005741) later established that jalapeños were implicated in every restaurant cluster with an identified ingredient, with the outbreak strain recovered from a jalapeño in Texas and from irrigation water and a serrano pepper on a Mexican farm. This time the first illness began June 19 and a distributor and a growing region were named on August 5 — about seven weeks. Faster is real progress, and the people who did that work deserve to hear it said. It is still not finished. **The first lawsuit names the importer** **Nance v. Coast Citrus Distributors, LLC**, No. 3:26-cv-03262-CRL-DJQ (C.D. Ill., Springfield Division), filed August 14, 2026, is the first lawsuit in this outbreak. Kayela Nance, an Illinois food service worker, ate at a Springfield Chipotle on June 24 and June 25. She fell ill on June 28, went to an emergency department two nights later and spent three days in the hospital. Her stool culture and whole genome sequencing matched the outbreak strain, and her county health department kept her off work until her doctor released her. Coast Citrus is the only defendant, because Coast Citrus is where these peppers entered the American food supply. The restaurants bought a box of peppers and served what was in it. **If you got sick, preserve the evidence** - • Keep the receipt, the packaging or a photograph of either. - • Ask your doctor for a stool culture. Without one there is usually no way to tie your illness to this outbreak. - • Ask the laboratory or your health department to preserve your isolate. Whole genome sequencing is what connects one person’s illness to the outbreak strain, and isolates are routinely discarded. - • Report your illness to your local health department. Cases that are never reported are never counted. **Do you have a claim?** If you were diagnosed with a *Salmonella* infection after eating at Chipotle, QDOBA or another Mexican-style restaurant this summer, or after eating a recalled product made with these jalapeños, you may have a claim against the companies in the chain of distribution. A stool culture matching the outbreak strain is powerful evidence. Consultations are free. Call 1-800-884-9840 or [contact us here](https://marlerclark.com/contact). Our answers to the questions people ask most about this outbreak are [here](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/faqs-the-2026-salmonella-jalape%C3%B1o-outbreak-questions-and-answers-for-the-public). **About Marler Clark** *Salmonella* sickens more than a million Americans every year and is the leading cause of hospitalizations and deaths among foodborne bacteria. [Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm](https://marlerclark.com/), is the nation’s leading firm representing victims of [*Salmonella*](https://about-salmonella.com/) outbreaks. Our [*Salmonella*](https://marlerclark.com/food-litigation/salmonella-outbreak-litigation)[ lawyers](https://marlerclark.com/food-litigation/salmonella-outbreak-litigation) have represented thousands of victims in the only U.S. law practice devoted exclusively to foodborne illness, and have recovered more than $850 million for victims and families nationwide. We have tied *Salmonella* outbreaks to cantaloupe, tomatoes, ground turkey, salami, sprouts, cereal, peanut butter and restaurant meals, and we have brought cases against Cargill, ConAgra, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Taco Bell, Subway and Wal-Mart. The Peanut Corporation of America outbreak ended in federal criminal convictions, with the company’s owner sentenced to twenty-eight years in prison. If you or a family member became ill with a *Salmonella* infection — including lasting complications such as [reactive arthritis](https://about-reactive-arthritis.com/) or [irritable bowel syndrome](https://about-irritablebowelsyndrome.com/) — after eating contaminated food, contact the Marler Clark *Salmonella* attorneys for a free case evaluation. ### Salmonella news and updates August 13, 2026 ###### [Salmonella and the 2026 Jalapeño Outbreak: Frequently Asked Questions](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/salmonella-and-the-2026-jalape%C3%B1o-outbreak-frequently-asked-questions) Marler Clark — The Food Safety Law Firm | Updated August 13, 2026 The questions below come in two parts. 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