An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning that has sickened at least 399 people and put 70 or more into the hospital has been linked to peanut butter, officials in Minnesota said on Friday.

Officials from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Department of Health said they were issuing a product advisory for King Nut brand creamy peanut butter after finding the Salmonella typhimurium bacteria in a big institutional-size jar of the spread.

'The Minnesota cases have the same genetic fingerprint as the cases in a national outbreak that has sickened almost 400 people in 42 states,' the health department said in a statement.-Reuters