No confirmed cases of salmonella have been reported in Portage County as part of the recent national outbreak that resulted from contaminated jars of peanut butter.

“We’ve had three or four people call our offices and claim they think they had salmonella,” said Kelly Engelhart, nursing director for the Portage County Health Department. “All of them are either being tested by our office or by their family physician, but so far, none of them have been confirmed to have the disease.”

Veronica Castro, spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration, said the affected products include jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter that have a product code on the lid that begins with the numbers “2111.”

The products were recalled from store shelves last week after almost 300 cases of salmonella around the nation were linked back to the peanut butter. Seven of those cases were reported in Ohio.

Engelhart said consumers should discard the peanut butter if they bought it after May 2006. She also said anyone who thinks he or she may be infected should contact the county health department or his or her physician.

Contact public affairs reporter Trevor Ivan [email protected].