A Minnesota woman is suing Chipotle after alleging that she contracted a salmonella infection from a burrito bowl at the end of June and was hospitalized with sepsis
Kristen Behne filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minnesota and alleges the restaurant served her salmonella-contaminated jalapeno peppers, which are currently linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 345 people in 27 states
In the lawsuit, viewed and obtained by Global News, Behne claims she ate the burrito bowl on June 24 from Chipotle’s Roseville, Minn., restaurant and three days later, she was in a hospital bed with “a life-threatening complication of the salmonella infection caused by Chipotle’s grossly contaminated food.”
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“Late in the evening of June 27, 2026—approximately seventy-six hours after her first exposure, and squarely within the recognized six-hour-to-six-day incubation period for salmonellosis—Plaintiff’s illness began. Her first symptom was syncope. She lost consciousness,” the lawsuit alleges
Behne claims she experienced fever, chills, muscle aches, joint pain, abdominal cramping and vomiting. She also alleges that her temperature reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit
“On the evening of June 28, 2026, Plaintiff presented to the emergency department at M Health Fairview St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood, Minnesota. On arrival her temperature was 102.3 degrees Fahrenheit, her heart rate was 145 beats per minute, and her respiratory rate was 22 breaths per minute,” the lawsuit says
Behne was admitted to the hospital on June 28 and was diagnosed with sepsis, a life-threatening medical emergency that happens when your body has an extreme response to an infection. She was discharged from the hospital three days later on June 30
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Behne claims that her health has not returned to its “pre-illness baseline” as she continues to experience effects of her salmonella infection and septic episode
“As a direct and proximate result of consuming contaminated food that Chipotle prepared, sold, and served to her, Plaintiff suffered a severe, painful, and debilitating illness; endured hospitalization and sepsis; incurred and will incur medical and medical-related expenses; suffered lost income and lost earning capacity; endured and will endure physical pain, mental anguish, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life; and sustained other losses and damages to be proved at trial,” the lawsuit says.
“Ms. Behne did nothing wrong. She could not have inspected her food for Salmonella; the pathogen is invisible, odorless, and tasteless. She was entitled to rely—and did rely—on Chipotle’s representations that the food it prepared and sold was safe to eat. Those representations were false,” the lawsuit adds
Genetic testing tied Behne’s infection to the current salmonella outbreak, according to the lawsuit
“Chipotle did not stumble into the 2026 outbreak. It arrived there with more than a decade of actual knowledge that its food safety systems—and in particular its produce sourcing and handling systems—were inadequate to protect its customers from foodborne pathogens,” the lawsuit adds, referencing other instances where Chipotle has faced outbreaks for E. coli, norovirus and clostridium perfringens
Behne is seeking USD$75,000 in damages
Global News has reached out to Chipotle for comment, but has not received a response
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On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health officials said businesses should check their inventory for the recalled jalapeno peppers and not sell or serve them
The jalapenos were supplied by California-based Coast Citrus Distributors andxican Grill, Qdoba and other restaurants
The Minnesota Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed it was investigating a salmonella outbreak tied to several Mexican-style, quick-service restaurants, with jalapenos being the suspected
Chipotle made up the majority of those cases where health officials were able to reach impacted consumers for an interview — who ate at the chain between mid-June and mid-July — but not all
Chipotle Mexican Grill said Tuesday that it had removed jalapenos from its restaurants after determining the peppers could potentially be tied to the salmonella outbreak public health officials are investigating
In a brief statement, Chipotle maintained that the “health and safety of our guests and employees is our highest priority” — and that it had pulled the jalapenos out of an abundance of caution and “replaced them with product from different growers” in all locations where a previous common lot had been distributed
“We have a robust ingredient traceability system and, upon learning of a potential Salmonella outbreak in the supply chain impacting wholesalers and restaurants, we identified jalapenos from a particular grower in Sinaloa, Mexico and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors as a common ingredient from a common lot, proactively removed them from the restaurants where they had been distributed, and replaced them with product from different growers,” the company added
Chipotle said that the recalled jalapeno peppers are no longer in Chipotle restaurants and “given these actions, the CDC and FDA have said they do not consider there to be a current ongoing risk from Chipotle restaurants in this outbreak.”
Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include diarrhea, fever, severe vomiting, dehydration and stomach cramps. Most people who get sick recover within a week. Infections can be more severe in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, who may require hospitalization
The latest salmonella outbreak arrives as a handful of fast-casual chains are still wrestling with the fallout of a separate, wider cyclospora — a diarrhea-causing parasitic illness — outbreak linked to shredded lettuce that has sickened thousands of Americans
—with files from The Associated Press
