Chipotle said Tuesday it had removed jalape\u00f1os from its restaurants across the country after they were suspected in a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 110 people in Minnesota.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of an abundance of caution, we proactively removed the jalape\u00f1os from our restaurants and replaced them with product from different growers,\u201d Chipotle said in a statement. Jalape\u00f1os are in a number of menu items at the restaurant chain, including chili-corn salsa, pico de gallo and guacamole.<\/p>\n
Carlota Medus, a senior epidemiologist supervisor in the Minnesota Department of Health Foodborne Disease Unit, said the outbreak is linked to Mexican-style restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cJalape\u00f1os are suspected as the vehicle,\u201d Medus said.<\/p>\n
Minnesota state officials interviewed 84 of the people sickened in the outbreak; among those, 89% reported eating at Chipotle between June 14 and July 14. The remaining people reported eating at a variety of other Mexican-style restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on all the evidence so far, the food that made people sick was served at other restaurants as well,\u201d Medus said.<\/p>\n
The Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that it began investigating \u201cmultiple ingredients\u201d tied to the salmonella outbreak on July 22. On Tuesday, it said there were 212 cases but did not identify a source.<\/p>\n
Laurie Schalow, Chipotle\u2019s chief corporate affairs and food safety officer, said: \u201cThe jalape\u00f1os in question were sent to several food service retailers across multiple states.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minnesota, Chipotle and the FDA have not named other states with suspected cases. The supplier of the jalape\u00f1os has not been named.<\/p>\n
Colorado health officials said Tuesday that testing had identified 110 cases associated with the same salmonella outbreak as Minnesota.<\/p>\n
While there are likely \u201ccommonalities\u201d with the Minnesota cases, Colorado health officials didn\u2019t confirm if the source of that state\u2019s cases were from jalape\u00f1os or Chipotle.<\/p>\n
There are many different types of salmonella, one of the most common sources of foodborne illness in the U.S. The FDA identified the strain in the Minnesota and Colorado outbreaks as salmonella javiana.<\/p>\n
The Minnesota Department of Health said Chipotle has been cooperative throughout the investigation, providing records and information about the products it receives at restaurants, in addition to removing the identified jalape\u00f1os from all restaurants that receive the product.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the measures Chipotle put in place, we are not concerned about Chipotle,\u201d Medus said, \u201cbut it is possible that the outbreak is ongoing if the contaminated food item is being served elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that she expects the case count to rise even if illnesses are not new, because of the time it takes to detect the cases.<\/p>\n