FROM THE BUNCOMBE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT:

The Asheville Citizen-Times is reporting that the Asheville salmonella outbreak has been traced to a tempeh culture provided by a Maryland company. Here's the official release yesterday from the Buncombe County Health Department:

Today Buncombe County Department of Health received final test results from the NC Department of Public Health laboratory confirming that the unopened bag of culture that was added to the tempeh tested positive for the matching strain of Salmonella Paratyphi B linked to the current disease outbreak.

The US Food and Drug Administration is already involved in tracing the origin of the ingredient to identify source of contamination as well as the potential for other Salmonella outbreaks in the US.

As of May 10th at 2:00 PM, Buncombe County Department of Health reports 58 cases associated with salmonella outbreak. Please keep in mind that this number does not include cases being reported in other counties or states.

NC Department of Public Health reports 63 cases, which includes cases in NC and other states, however there is a slight delay in reporting.