
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 15, 1994                   TAG: 9410170058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ST. PAUL, MINN.                                 LENGTH: Short

ICE CREAM BLAMED IN SALMONELLA CASES

Ice cream made in Minnesota is now blamed for thousands of suspected cases of salmonella in at least 35 states, and investigators are trying to figure out the source of the bacteria.

Schwan's Sales Enterprises, based in Marshall, recalled its ice cream last week after the first reports of food poisoning. Investigators have found salmonella bacteria in samples of Schwan's ice cream from people who got ill.

Dr. Larry Slutsker, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday that reports have come from at least 35 states. The CDC has 400 confirmed cases of salmonella from Schwan's ice cream, and 3,000 to 5,000 suspected cases, agency spokesman Kent Taylor said.

The CDC said the confirmed cases came from 15 states: Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin.

CDC is not releasing the list of the 20 other states where cases have been reported but not yet confirmed. ``We don't want to cause alarm in these areas,'' said another CDC spokesman, Bob Howard.

The ice cream could have been contaminated in any number of ways, investigators said.

``We're looking at everything from the ingredients to the mixes to the transportation system to the plant,'' said Jackie Renner of the state Agriculture Department.

by CNB