Federal health authorities confirmed that chicken wraps sold at Trader Joe's caused an ongoing E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 50 people. The USDA/ FSIS confirmed in an email to USA TODAY on Friday, Oct. 23, following a USA TODAY story about the lawsuit and investigation related to the outbreak. The lawsuit, along with state investigation documents USA TODAY reviewed, named Trader Joe's Tarragon Chicken Salad Wraps as the source. "The E. coli O157:H7 outbreak (2026-04) investigation identified ready-to-eat, multi-ingredient chicken wraps from certain Trader Joe's stores as a common exposure among people who became sick," FSIS said in its statement. "The wraps reported by some cases very early in the investigation were proactively removed from the market by Trader Joe's before a link to the outbreak was established." The FDA and USDA had previously identified the source of the outbreak only as an unnamed "Ready-To-Eat Multi-ingredient wrap with chicken." The public FD and FSIS entries for the outbreak still listed the unspecified wraps as of Friday, Oct. 23. The USDA is still working with other agencies to investigate the source ingredient, it said, and "extensive product testing" has all been negative. It is unlikely to be chicken, it added, as chicken is rarely the source of the outbreak strain of E. coli (E. coli O157:H7), also known as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or STEC, a type of foodborne illness that sometimes causes a serious condition that can lead to kidney damage called hemolytic uremic syndrome. Historically, health agencies like the FDA and USDA have named multi-ingredient products during associated outbreaks, even if a specific ingredient within them wasn't yet identified as the culprit. In this case, FSIS said the products were removed from shelves before a link could be confirmed and a recall could be initiated. @ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2026/10/23/trader-joes-wraps-e-coli-outbreak/92403351007/
