At least 23 New Jersey residents have fallen ill as part of a nationwide salmonella outbreak linked to peanut products.

Some 529 people in 43 states have been affected by the outbreak of salmonella typhimurium, which was traced to a factory in Georgia run by Peanut Corp. of America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Eight people are believed to have died as a result of the infections, but none was in New Jersey.

Peanut butter and peanut paste produced at the Blakely, Ga., plant were distributed to more than 100 companies that use the products in cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream, the Food and Drug Administration said.

At least six New Jersey residents were hospitalized due to illness, said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services. Infections have been reported all around the state, with five in Atlantic County, two each in Camden, Hudson, Morris, and Ocean counties, and single cases identified in Bergen, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Middlesex, Monmouth, Salem, Union, and Warren.

Health officials warn that numbers could rise, however, as there is a delay before an illness is confirmed as part of the outbreak.

“There could be more infections because there is about a two-week delay,” said CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell.

Although new cases are being reported around the country, no new infections have been reported in New Jersey since mid-December, Leusner said. Typical symptoms of salmonella infection include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, which develop 12 to 72 hours after infection. The elderly and very young are particularly susceptible.

Federal inspectors reported finding numerous sanitary deficiencies at the plant in Georgia, including the presence of roaches and mold. On Friday, the FDA announced it was working with the Justice Department to explore possible criminal charges against the company for shipping out products after it was known the facility was contaminated with salmonella.

Company records show that on previous occasions in 2007 and 2008, internal tests found salmonella in a food product, but when follow-up tests did not show the bacteria, the company shipped the products anyway, even if the tests were from a different sample, FDA officials said.

FDA investigators also found other strains of salmonella present at the plant. No reported illnesses have been tied to those strains, but Peanut Corp. of America expanded its recall last week to include all products manufactured at its plant in Blakely, Ga., since Jan. 1, 2007. The massive recall is one of the largest in the nation’s history and the second in two years involving peanut butter.

For more information and a list of company recalls, visit the FDC’s website at www.fda.gov, or call the CDC information hotline at (800) CDC-INFO.

(Source: NJ Star Ledger)