Kellogg officials said the company is recalling 16 products which contain peanut butter. The company linked the peanut butter-containing products to a salmonella outbreak that already killed five people throughout the U.S.

Another company involved in the case, the Peanut Corporation of America, said its samples were tested positive for Salmonella by the Food and Drug Administration. Peanut Corporation of America works with Kellogg.

The products Kellogg recalled “have the potential to be contaminated," as the company put it. The list of recalled products includes Keebler cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers, Keebler Soft Batch and Famous Amos peanut butter cookies, the company said through a spokesperson.

The source of the outbreak is thought to be the peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America. The aforementioned products are usually used in cookies, crackers and ice cream.

According to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as much as 453 people in 43 states as well as Canada have been infected with Salmonella Typhimurium. Of those infected, about 22 percent have been hospitalized and five died. A sixth Salmonella-related death has been reported in North Carolina, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not confirm it.

Four of the people who died reportedly had other illnesses that previously compromised their immune systems which made them more vulnerable to the severe side effects of the Salmonella infection. More infections are expected, said CDC's Dr. Robert Tauxe, who added that this was an average rate for the Salmonella disease.

The facility suspected of being the source of the Salmonella outbreak is the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corp. of America. Besides recalling numerous products, the company ceased production at that plant.

Peanut Corp. of America recalled peanut butter sold in bulk packaging in containers ranging in size from 5 to 1,700 pounds. The recalled peanut paste was sold in sizes ranging from 35 pound containers to tanker containers.

"We urged companies to check (their records) ... and tell us if the peanuts came from PCA," the FDA's Stephen Sundlof said.

The Peanut Corp. of America officials maintained that only institutional peanut butter was behind the outbreak and not name-brand consumer products.

King Nut, a company which distributes peanut butter produced by Peanut Corp., also recalled its products after a container of peanut butter infected with Salmonella was found in a Minnesota nursing home.

Mr. Tauxe said that Salmonella Typhimurium is responsible for approximately 20 percent of the 40,000 Salmonella cases which occur in the United States every year. He added that peanut butter is a food that does not support the growth of bacteria, but it does not kill it either if it is injected.