Taylor Farms Expands Recall to 20 Products Made With Jalapeños After Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 345

Taylor Farms is pulling 20 more food items off shelves because they were made with jalapeño peppers that may be linked to a salmonella outbreak. The recall now reaches stores in 26 states.

The affected products include dips, burritos and salsa sold at major chains like Target, Trader Joe's, Walmart and Whole Foods, according to the company. The CDC and FDA are investigating the outbreak, which has sickened 345 people so far.

Taylor Farms says it isn't aware of any illnesses tied to its jalapeño products specifically. This is the company's second recall in as many months, after it pulled shredded iceberg lettuce last month during a separate outbreak of cyclospora, a parasite that can also contaminate produce.

Don Schaffner, a food safety scientist at Rutgers University, says recalls like this one often go beyond what's actually been proven contaminated. "A lot of the fallout that we're seeing now in terms of additional recalls are from things that could have been made with contaminated ingredients,” Schaffner said, adding that companies are often just "acting out of an abundance of caution."

The recall comes as Americans pay closer attention to what's in their food. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new proposed rule Tuesday targeting "ultraprocessed" foods that would require manufacturers to notify the FDA before using additives labeled "generally recognized as safe," a category originally meant for simple ingredients like garlic and vanilla. Under the current rule, companies can add those ingredients without ever notifying the FDA, even if the additives haven't gone through extensive safety testing.

Some critics argue the new rule wouldn't go far enough, since it wouldn't stop manufacturers from introducing new ingredients or pulling existing ones from shelves without oversight.