The New Mexico Department of Health has expanded its investigation into reported cases of Salmonella in Roosevelt County, the Portales News-Tribune reported.

Health officials on Tuesday confirmed 12 Roosevelt County cases from the same strain of Salmonella -- different from the Salmonella Saintpaul strain reported nationally since April, the News-Tribune reported.

The latest confirmed case was from July 7, but a new case reported Tuesday in Portales is still being investigated, health department spokesman Chris Minnick told the News-Tribune.

"Of those 12 cases, eight of them ate at La Hacienda Restaurant" in Portales, Minnick told the paper. "We do not know if the eight people that ate at the restaurant contracted the strain from there."

Minnick also said the fact that four people who contracted the infection didn't eat at La Hacienda opens the investigation to the possibility of a new source, the News-Tribune said.

Workers at the restaurant are being tested individually, Minnick told the paper.

La Hacienda manager Randy Ornelas told the News-Tribune in an earlier interview that his restaurant uses the same food suppliers as other restaurants in town.

6:30am 7/15/08 -- Portales Restaurant Eyed in Salmonella Outbreak: Health officials say six people got sick after eating at La Hacienda, but manager says link not certain.

State health officials are investigating a possible link between six reported cases of Salmonella and a Portales restaurant, though the restaurant's manager, whose family owns La Hacienda Restaurant, tells the Portales News-Tribune the link hasn't been definitely established.

All six people ate at La Hacienda before becoming ill with a strain of Salmonella different from the widely reported national outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, said Dr. Winona Stoltzfus, regional health officer for the state Department of Health in Roswell.

"This is a different type of Salmonella than the one that is going on nationally," Stoltzfus told the News-Tribune. "It's way to early to say right now. I really don't want to speculate at this point. We want to let this investigation move forward first."

La Hacienda manager Randy Ornelas, whose family owns the business, said health inspectors had been in the restaurant, but said he was told they couldn't definitely link the outbreak to his restaurant yet, the News-Tribune reported.

"They don't know if it's from her or another restaurant," Ornelas told the News-Tribune. "They can't link it to here because the lab reports aren't back."

Ornelas said he uses the same food suppliers as other restaurants in town and that his family has always followed local and state regulations and runs a clean restaurant, the paper reported.

"We're worried; we've become very close to our customers," Ornelas said. "They're like family to us." 

According to a New Mexico Department of Health news release, the New Mexico Environment Department has inspected the restaurant and collected food samples that will be tested at the state's lab, the News-Tribune said.

Health department officials are interviewing people who ate recently at La Hacienda in order to determine the most likely sources of the outbreak, Stoltzfus said.

The restaurant remains open, owners told the News-Tribune.