Chipotle has begun removing jalapenos from some of its restaurants over concern about a salmonella outbreak, according to ABC News. The company said it was taking the step out of an abundance of caution, framing the move as a precaution rather than a confirmation that its food was the source of the illnesses. The decision means the pepper is being pulled from menus at affected locations while health authorities continue to investigate how the outbreak spread.
The action follows findings from health officials in Minnesota, who have connected the outbreak to jalapenos. According to the report, officials in the state said that more than 100 salmonella cases were linked to the peppers. Investigators also noted that dozens of the patients who fell ill had reported eating at Chipotle, a detail that helped draw attention to the chain as the wider inquiry developed.
Beyond Minnesota, the scale of the outbreak has grown across the country. ABC News reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now counting up to 22,000 cases spread across 47 states. That national footprint makes clear the illnesses are not confined to a single region, and health officials have been tracking where the reported cases are concentrated as the totals climb.
Michigan has emerged as the hardest-hit state in the outbreak. According to the report, Michigan has recorded the most cases of any state, and it has also reported the first two deaths connected to the salmonella outbreak. Those fatalities mark a serious turn in an episode that had until then been measured mainly in the number of people sickened rather than in lives lost.
The people affected span a wide range of the population. The CDC said that patients tied to the outbreak range in age from 1 to 98 years old, indicating that both very young children and elderly people have been among those who became ill. ABC News reported that the intestinal illness has already made thousands of Americans sick and that the number of cases has continued to rise as more reports come in.
Even as jalapenos have been singled out in Minnesota, officials have not closed off other lines of inquiry. According to the report, the CDC said investigators are still looking at possible other sources of the outbreak. That caveat suggests authorities are not yet treating the peppers as the only explanation and are continuing to trace how contamination may have reached the people who fell ill.
For now, Chipotle's removal of jalapenos stands as a visible response while the investigation remains open. The company cast the change as a cautionary measure, and the broader picture described by ABC News is of an outbreak that has reached tens of thousands of reported cases, spread across most of the country, and produced its first deaths in Michigan. Health officials are expected to keep monitoring the situation as they work to pin down the source.