Salmonella concerns spread to Kellogg peanut butter crackers

— -- The potential impact of the salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people across the country has broadened significantly with snack and cereal giant Kellogg's announcement that it is investigating the possible contamination of its peanut-butter crackers.

Until now, the contamination was believed confined to peanut butter sold in bulk to institutions such as schools, hospitals and nursing homes. PCA has not released the names of specific customers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday updated the number of cases to 448 people in 43 states, with salmonella a suspected factor in five deaths.

Kellogg is putting "on hold" all Keebler and Austin brand crackers. A tub of King Nut peanut butter manufactured by PCA was found by Minnesota health officials to have the outbreak strain of salmonella. The peanut butter was at a nursing home where several residents were stricken.

William Keene, a state epidemiologist for the Oregon Public Health Division, says he suspects there are more tainted products using PCA peanut butter on the market. "Is it a dozen other products? That's the $64,000 question today," he says.

Larry Beuchat, a professor at the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety, says salmonella can survive in uncooked foods. "From the work we've done here, we would predict that the salmonella would survive in the filling that is used for crackers, for example, for several weeks, if not months," he says.

Kellogg said in a news release that "holding" would mean not distributing the crackers, removing them from store shelves and "encouraging customers and consumers to hold and not eat these products until regulatory officials complete their investigation."

The crackers are all Austin and Keebler brands: