3rd death in Minnesota is linked to salmonella

A third Minnesotan has died after being infected with the salmonella strain implicated in a nationwide outbreak.

Meanwhile, more food companies announced recalls of foods containing peanut butter supplied by a Georgia plant believed to be the source of the 43-state outbreak, bringing the total number of recalled products to around 200.

The state Health Department said that the victim is a woman in her 80s who lived in a long-term care facility. Her name and date of death were not released. The two other Minnesota residents who died after testing positive for the outbreak strain lived in nursing homes in Brainerd that had served peanut butter later discovered to contain salmonella.

All three had other medical problems, and health officials have not confirmed that salmonella caused the deaths.

The other Minnesota victims are Shirley Mae Almer, 72, formerly of Perham, Minn., who died Dec. 21 after spending several weeks in the Good Samaritan Society-Bethany nursing home in Brainerd, and Clifford Tousignant, 78, originally of Duluth, who died Jan. 12 after several weeks at the Good Samaritan Society-Woodland nursing home, also in Brainerd.

Mike Deuth, administrator of the two nursing homes, said about 10 of the approximately 460 people in the two facilities became ill with salmonella infections. He said he was not aware that a third person had died. Both homes returned the recalled peanut butter, he said.

Nearly 500 people across the country have been infected in the outbreak, and seven deaths have been linked to it. Minnesota officials this month were the first to link the strain to a 5-gallon peanut butter container at one of the Good Samaritan homes. So far, 36 people in Minnesota have been infected, and 13 of them have been hospitalized, the Health Department said.

The peanut butter linked to the outbreak was produced in a Blakely, Ga., plant and was sold in bulk to at least 70 firms, ending up in institutional kitchens and in an array of packaged products such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream, according to the Food and Drug Administration. For a searchable list of products recalled, go to www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall.

Peanut Corp. of America of Lynchburg, Va., closed the Georgia plant this week, laying off about 40 to 45 workers, as investigation of the outbreak continues, said company spokesman George Clarke.

People who eat food contaminated with salmonella usually develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps within three days. Salmonella also can cause serious, sometimes fatal infections in young children and frail or elderly people.

David Shaffer • 612-673-7090