A sign for a local Chipotle location in Washington, DC on July 20, 2026. (Kevin Carter / Getty Images)
By Michael Austin August 23, 2026 at 4:00am
A woman in Minnesota filed a lawsuit against Chipotle claiming a burrito bowl caused a Salmonella infection that sent her to the hospital.
Kristen Behne is seeking more than $75,000 in damages from the fast casual chain, claiming the firm violated Minnesota food safety laws, per a report from Fox Business.
Behne’s lawsuit said she ate a chicken burrito bowl on June 24 in Roseville, Minnesota — a meal that included guacamole, tomato salsa, and roasted chili corn salsa.
Those ingredients all included jalapeno peppers, which have been impacted by a Salmonella outbreak in recent months.
Federal officials warn of a salmonella outbreak linked to recalled jalapeños in at least 27 states, with 345 reported cases. Chipotle and Qdoba have removed jalapeños from their menus amid the ongoing recalls. @melissaabcnews reports. https://t.co/tbmME3s8Yj pic.twitter.com/XMR7her5wJ
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) August 10, 2026
The Minnesota Department of Health has formally said Behne was one of the 345 people impacted by the nationwide Salmonella contamination.
“MDH recorded her illness as outbreak-associated, identified the outbreak by name as the Salmonella Javiana outbreak, and classified Plaintiff as a confirmed case,” the complaint said.
Behne’s lawsuit claimed she developed chills, fever, vomiting, and abdominal cramping after eating the burrito bowl.
“Three days later she was in a hospital bed, febrile, tachycardic and septic — a life-threatening complication of the Salmonella infection caused by Chipotle’s grossly contaminated food,” the lawsuit said.
“She has not been the same since.”
Hundreds of people in 27 states have been sickened in a salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeño peppers, including at Chipotle and Qdoba restaurants, the CDC said.
As of Tuesday, 345 cases had been reported with 36 people hospitalized. https://t.co/ifCt131q69
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 6, 2026
Behne is still impacted by fallout from the sickness — and allegedly faces the threat of further complications.
“She continues to experience the effects of her acute Salmonella infection and her septic episode, and is at increased risk of well-recognized post-infectious sequelae, including reactive arthritis and post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome,” the lawsuit said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that both Chipotle and Qdoba have stopped serving the impacted jalapeno peppers, which came from Sinaloa, Mexico.
They were distributed in multiple states by Coast Citrus Distributors.
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Michael wrote for several entertainment news outlets before joining The Western Journal in 2020. He now serves as Managing Editor, which involves managing the editorial team and operations, guiding the publication’s editorial direction, and writing, editing, curating and assigning stories as needed.
Birthplace
Ames, Iowa
Nationality
American
Education
Iowa State University
Topics of Expertise
Cultural Politics, Pop Culture, Christian-Conservatism
