The peanut butter-caused salmonella provoked another victim in Minnesota, an elderly man living in a nursing home, who also had other health problems. This was announced on Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Health, but they it's very difficult to say whether the salmonella poisoning was directly responsible of his death.

The first death was also an elderly person, a woman, with other health problems as well. The two were among 12 nursing home residents who became ill in the outbreak that in Minnesota is linked to King Nut Peanut Butter, sold to institutions such as nursing homes, schools, hospitals or restaurants.

Furthermore, health officials raised the overall number of salmonella cases detected in the state to 33, up from 30, as twelve of those cases were residents of long-term care facilities, including the two people who passed away. By now, thirteen of the victims were hospitalized. Unfortunately, health officials from Virginia reported 2 deaths that are linked to this national outbreak that has sickened more than 400 people.

Peanut butter was distributed to food suppliers in seven states by King Nut, and, nationally, by the Peanut Corp. of America. Both companies have recalled the suspect lots of peanut butter. In addition, Peanut Corp. sells peanut paste to Kellogg, which asked stores nationwide to pull peanut butter crackers sold under the Austin and Keebler brands. However, Kellogg did not mention problems with those products, but it's recalling them as a precaution.

No one knows yet how this problem could have appeared, but there are, of course, a few suppositions. For example, a microbiologist from the Wayne State University said the contamination may have come from animal waste runoff in fields or during processing. It remains to be seen if the cause of the outbreak will be discovered.