Health officials may have found the cause of the most recent nationwide outbreak of salmonella.

A brand of peanut butter tested positive for salmonella in Minnesota and is possibly connected to a nationwide outbreak. The peanut butter, distributed in a five-pound tub, has been voluntarily recalled by its distributor, King Nut Cos. of Solon, Ohio.

The Minnesota Department of Health said epidemiological evidence pointed to that brand being implicated in a nationwide outbreak of salmonella typhimurium which has sickened 399 people in 42 states.

The brand is primarily used in schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities and restaurants, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. The tub of peanut butter that tested positive for salmonella was an open container obtained from a senior care facility where several residents had fallen ill with the outbreak strain of salmonella typhimurium, says Doug Schultz of the state's Department of Health.

Source:  USA Today, Peanut Butter Distributor Recalls Product Amid Salmonella Scare