FDA says tests confirm salmonella in Veggie Booty snack food caused outbreak

WASHINGTON, AP) _ Tests have confirmed that a strain of salmonella found in Veggie Booty snack food was responsible for an outbreak of the disease last spring that sickened 61 people, the Food and Drug Administration said.

The agency's findings on Friday supported earlier testing by the Minnesota Agricultural Lab, the FDA said in a statement.

Veggie Booty is marketed by Robert's American Gourmet Inc. of Sea Cliff, New York. The company says that seasoning, believed made with Chinese ingredients, contained the salmonella and that it had purchased the seasoning from Atlantic Quality Spice & Seasonings of Edison, New Jersey.

The FDA advised consumers not to eat any Veggie Booty and Super Veggie Tings Crunchy Corn Sticks because of concerns of contamination. A recall was ordered by Robert's American Gourmet on June 28.

People in 19 U.S. states, nearly all of them children 3 and younger, became sick after eating the tainted snacks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Six children were hospitalized, and at least one lawsuit has been filed in connection with the outbreak.

Symptoms of salmonella include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. The bacteria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems.