Posted: March 30th, 2011 - 10:08pm by Doug Powell

The number of suspected cases of salmonella linked to a Rhode Island bakery has increased to 43 people, the Health Department reported Wednesday.

Health officials said 22 of those people have been hospitalized.

Health officials said many of the people that were sickened ate doughnut-like pastries called zeppoles made by DeFusco's Bakery in Johnston. The pastries were sold at other stores around the state and have been recalled.

State Sen. John Tassoni has launched a new push to hire more state food inspectors, adding, “The safety of every person who visits a restaurant or other food establishment in Rhode Island is at stake.”

There are seven food inspectors responsible for inspecting 8,000 food establishment across the Ocean State - yet being short staffed only allows them to inspect half that number.

The most recent salmonella-in-pastry outbreak happened in Adelaide, South Australia earlier this year, when at least 107 people were sickened with Salmonella Typhimurium phage type 9 after eating custard eclairs and cannolis from two bakeries.