Growing concern over a national outbreak of salmonella poisoning has prompted some area school districts to banish peanuts and peanut-based products from school menus.

"We have removed all items with peanuts, peanut butter paste and peanut butter from all our venues, and products like cookies we have removed from our vending machines," said Cissy Bowman, spokesman for the Mt. Lebanon School District.

"[Our vendors'] products are not on the recall list but we are taking them out as a precaution,'' she said.

Mt. Lebanon has cafeteria service at its high school and two middle schools.

Since the fall, at least 486 cases of peanut-related salmonella poisoning have been reported; at least six people have died.

The tainted product has been traced to an American processing plant. Originally, it was believe that just peanut butter was involved, but the discovery of bacteria in peanut paste opens the possibility of hundreds of products -- brownie mix to ice cream to dog treats -- being affected.

"We expect [the] number to continue to increase," said Stephen Sundlof in an Associated Press report.

Mr. Sundlof is head of the FDA's food safety program.

An updated list of recalled products, some from big names such as Kellogg's and Keebler, can be found at www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm.

In Bethel Park, where food service is available throughout the district, peanuts and peanut products are currently off the menu.

"This will be until federal authorities tell us it's all right to use it again," said Vicki Flotta, district spokeswoman. "We had nothing that was on that danger list, the recall list, but we felt we should err on the side of caution."

Metz and Associates, a Dallas, Pa.-based company, provides food service for roughly 20 Allegheny County schools, including the Keystone Oaks School District and Seton-LaSalle High School.

Debbie Zandona, who runs food service at Seton-LaSalle, said the company's decision to recommend pulling peanut products is clear after the extent of the tainted food reports became obvious during the winter break.

"We took [peanut products] off the menu after the kids came back to school," she said.

"Although in Pennsylvania we were not affected, some of our business in Ohio involved a few products on the recall list," said Craig Phillips, Metz vice president for purchasing.

"We have learned through past experience with the government and recalls that, a lot of time when you have the first recalls, it turns out to be the tip of the iceberg."

With that in mind, Metz put a total hold on serving any peanut-based products.

"I've gotten the 'all-clear' on some specific products from specific managers, but rather than confuse anyone, we'll still retain the ban," Mr. Phillips said.

Baldwin-Whitehall Superintendent Lawrence Korchnak said it was simply "good practice" to avoid serving peanut-based products until authorities had given the all-clear. Compared to dealing with an individual's allergies to peanuts or other food products, he said, "this is much easier. With one sweep of the wand you can eliminate any potential problems.

"With allergies, you might not know there's a problem until someone has a [bad] reaction."