Class Action Lawsuit Claims Qdoba Failed to Warn Customers of Salmonella-Contaminated Jalapeños

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims that Qdoba Restaurant Corp. failed to warn the public that its food products contained jalapeño peppers potentially contaminated with salmonella, endangering customers’ health.

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The 22-page lawsuit relays that in August 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released notices of a multistate salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeño peppers grown in Sinaloa, Mexico, distributed to food service companies in the U.S. by defendant Coast Citrus, and used in food products at Qdoba.

Infections reportedly occurred largely between mid-June and early August 2026 and resulted in 57 hospitalizations, with 91 percent of 224 people interviewed reporting having eaten at a Mexican-style restaurant, such as Chipotle or Qdoba, prior to their illness, the complaint states.

The plaintiffs both claim to have fallen ill after consuming contaminated Qdoba food products, with one plaintiff having to miss work due to her illness, the suit says.

Per the filing, the affected jalapeños were contaminated with Salmonella Javiana, which most commonly causes diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, bloating, nausea and fatigue. The suit adds that S. Javiana may also occasionally cause low-grade fevers and vomiting, and rare, severe cases have led to liver abscesses, meningitis and cholecystitis with gallbladder perforation, as well as bloodstream infection in immunocompromised individuals.

The lawsuit claims that Coast Citrus and Qdoba failed to warn consumers that the products they purchased were or could have been contaminated with salmonella, and that Qdoba, additionally, could have purchased its ingredients from safer sources.

The Qdoba class action lawsuit seeks to represent anyone in the United States who, within the applicable period, bought food from Qdoba containing the contaminated jalapeños.

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