After Minnesota Department of Health found salmonella in an open container of peanut butter, the brand has been voluntarily recalled by the manufacturer. The current salmonella typhimurium outbreak has already struck 400 people in 42 states with at least 30 Minnesotans sickened and ten of the cases in nursing home patrons. The health department feels the peanut butter could be the source of this outbreak. According to the CDC, California was the worst hit with 55 cases, followed by Ohio with 53, Massachusetts with 39, Minnesota, 30 and Michigan 20.

The brand of peanut butter that tested positive was recalled by its distributor King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio. The Minnesota Dept. of Health on Friday issued a warning that a five pound tub of creamy peanut butter distributed by King Nut had tested positive for salmonella bacteria.

The brand in question is not available in grocery stores with it being used in schools, hospitals, restaurants, bakeries and long-term care facilities. Any establishment that has the product in question has been asked to stop using it. "Any dietary manager of a nursing facility has likely already taken action. Most of them are probably not waiting until I get in on Monday morning," says Patti Cullen, from Care Providers of Minnesota.

Doug Schultz of the state's Dept. of Health said that the tub that tested positive for salmonella was an open container from a senior health care facility which had several residents fall ill with the outbreak strain of salmonella typhimurium.

Till now it has not been proven that the peanut butter is directly linked to the current national salmonella outbreak. In a statement posted on its website King Nut said further tests are being conducted by both King Nut and the FDA on closed containers of the peanut butter.

"We've have 30 illnesses in Minnesota that are connected to the outbreak strain and all of those 30 illness report eating some type of peanut butter and many if not most of them have been connected to this King Nut brand," Schultz says.

Ten of Minnesota's cases were in nursing homes, and most of the other 20 were in schools or hospitals, he says. "We felt it was important to get the word out so if there are institutions that have this peanut butter, they wouldn't use it.

Manufactured by the Peanut Corporation of America in Lynchburg, Va., for King Nut who issued a statement to customers to "put on hold all of their peanut butter in question. A recall of this product will be announced Monday morning. At this point it is unclear what Peanut Corporation of America will do with regard to this case or the national case of the salmonella outbreak."

Stewart Parnell, president of Peanut Corporation of America said that the company planned to issue a statement on its website Saturday night.