Source: Xinhua

01-25-2009 14:08

Special Report:   Tech Max

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- One Minnesota woman in her 80s has died from salmonella poisoning, bringing the total number of deaths related to the outbreak of salmonella in the U.S. to seven, officials from the Minnesota Department of Health said on Saturday.

Salmonella bacteria

According to the officials, it was not clear whether the woman had eaten any contaminated peanut butter. In all, there have been three deaths in Minnesota, two in Virginia and one each in North Carolina and Idaho.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the sole source of the U.S. salmonella outbreak involving contaminated peanut butter appears to be the Peanut Corp of America's Blakely, Georgia, processing facility.

The company produces peanut butter for use in nursing homes and cafeterias, as well as a concentrated product used in many commercially produced products, including cakes, cookies, crackers, candies, cereal and ice cream.

More than 200 peanut butter and peanut paste products from at least 38 companies have been recalled so far in the ongoing salmonella outbreak, according to the latest count posted on the website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As of Wednesday evening, 491 people had been reported infected by a salmonella outbreak by public health authorities in 43 of the 50 U.S. states, the CDC said on its website.

Salmonella bacteria is the most common source of food poisoning in the United States, causing serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy people infected with it often experience fever, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

 

Editor:Beauty