STATE COLLEGE — Five people in Pennsylvania are among at least 76 nationwide who have fallen ill from a strain of salmonella linked to ground turkey, an outbreak under investigation by the federal government.

Health officials in California have said one person there has died, while the 76 illnesses are spread among 26 states. Meat giant Cargill announced Wednesday that it is recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey and health officials are urging consumers to cook ground turkey thoroughly, to 165 degrees.

In Pennsylvania, four of the cases were in Pittsburgh. Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, said the four cases were the result of people eating tainted ground turkey that was bought at supermarkets and improperly prepared.

News of the probe gave Carol Masteller some pause as she shopped Wednesday afternoon at the Nature’s Pantry natural foods store in State College. She said she usually buys ground turkey at large supermarkets, and mixes it with beef to make hamburgers or spaghetti.

“I’m a little nervous about it,” Masteller, 61, of Bellefonte, told the AP. “I don’t think it’s going to change (my habits) but it does make me a little nervous.”

The freezer at Nature’s Pantry was stocked with boxes of frozen ground turkey meatballs and sausage from Shelton’s, a California-based company which describes itself on its site as the largest natural poultry marketer in the country. Store owner Michelle Briggs said the investigation did not affect those products, and that she had no plans to pull them from the shelf.

“It’s more (about) ... large-scale factory farming and then the large-scale processing of meats that leads to contamination of the product,” Briggs said when asked her reaction to the federal government’s ground turkey investigation.

“Shelton is a family-owned farm, and they’re processing all in one place. They know where their animals are being processed,” she said. “They’re processed right there at the facility, and then shipped out from there.”