Health risks may reach far beyond reported victims

— -- Like any mother facing a long day in the car and then on a plane with two young kids, ages 4 and 5, Jennifer Krieger of Alexandria, Va., was prepared.

"I bought peanut butter crackers," she says, "thinking it would be a great healthy snack to take on the trip, easy to throw in my bag, and it won't go bad."

But things went bad, in ways that Krieger couldn't have imagined. A long-awaited Christmas vacation ski trip turned into a five-day vigil at a Colorado hospital after David Krieger, 4, got salmonellosis, a life-threatening infection caused by exposure to the salmonella bacteria.

"The hardest part was seeing him in such pain," Krieger says. "He would cry out, 'My tummy hurts! My tummy hurts!' and he'd be in a fetal position on the floor."

Federal officials say David, who has recovered, was one of more than 538 people across the nation who became sick after they ate contaminated peanut butter or foods containing tainted peanut paste made in a Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) manufacturing plant in Georgia. The infection also may have contributed to eight deaths, they say. Recalled products now number more than 1,700, including peanut butter crackers and many other snacks, although officials say major brands of peanut butter are not affected.

PCA is under a criminal investigation by the Food and Drug Administration and the Justice Department. A second congressional hearing on the recall is scheduled for Wednesday. The impact of the salmonella contamination could reach well beyond the 538 people who got sick.

On Tuesday, the company suspended operations at its Plainview, Texas plant, ahead of its announcement that salmonella may have been found at the site.

An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that the Plainview plant, which opened in March 2005, operated uninspected and unlicensed by state health officials until after the company came under investigation last month by the Food and Drug Administration. Once inspectors learned about the Texas plant, they found no sign of salmonella there.

PCA had already closed the Blakely, Ga. plant last month after it was identified as the source of a salmonella outbreak.

On Monday, the FBI raided the plant in Georgia, hauling off boxes and other material. Agents executed search warrants at both the plant and at Peanut Corp.'s Lynchburg headquarters, according to a senior congressional aide with knowledge of the raids. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.