The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued a public health alert covering 18 meat and poultry products made with jalapeños that were separately recalled by the Food and Drug Administration over possible Salmonella contamination. The alert, issued August 8, 2026, comes as a broader outbreak tied to the same jalapeños has sickened at least 431 people across 32 states, according to the FDA’s outbreak investigation page.
Key Points
- The contaminated jalapeños were grown in Sinaloa, Mexico, and distributed nationwide by Coast Citrus Distributors, according to FSIS’s public health alert.
- Eighteen FSIS-regulated meat and poultry products used the recalled jalapeños as an ingredient, including items sold under the Taylor Farms, Ready Meals, Meal Simple, Higher Harvest and Deli Kitchen brands, per Food Safety News.
- Retailers and chains that received the affected jalapeños or downstream products include Albertsons, Kroger, Walmart, Target, Whole Foods Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill and QDOBA, according to CBS News and the FDA.
- As of the FDA’s August 21, 2026 update, 431 people have been sickened and 57 hospitalized across 32 states, with no deaths reported.
- Illness onsets ran from June 19 through August 2, 2026, per the FDA.
FSIS said in its alert that it had “no confirmed reports of illness” tied specifically to the FSIS-regulated meat and poultry products at the time the alert was issued, a distinction from the broader, FDA-tracked outbreak connected to the jalapeños themselves across restaurants and other food service settings. The agency issued the alert anyway because the jalapeños entered the food supply chain widely enough that the risk couldn’t be ruled out, and it urged consumers and retailers to check their freezers and refrigerators for the affected products.
How the Outbreak Was Traced
Investigators linked the illnesses to fresh jalapeños after interviewing sick patients about what they had eaten in the days before symptoms started. Of the patients interviewed as part of the investigation, the vast majority reported eating at Mexican-style restaurants beforehand, according to Food Safety News. That pattern pointed investigators toward the shared jalapeño supply chain rather than any single restaurant or product line. Chipotle switched jalapeño suppliers for affected locations starting July 20, and QDOBA stopped serving jalapeños altogether on July 28, both ahead of the formal FSIS alert, per CBS News‘s reporting.
What to Do
Symptoms of Salmonella infection typically include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever, appearing anywhere from six hours to six days after eating contaminated food, according to FSIS. The agency is advising anyone who has the affected products to throw them away or return them to the place of purchase rather than eating them, even if the food looks and smells normal. FSIS has said it expects additional downstream products to be identified as the ingredient-level recall continues working its way through the supply chain, meaning the list of affected items could still grow.
