WASHINGTON (AP) - Government health officials are telling people to avoid eating raw alfalfa sprouts, because they could be contaminated with a strain of salmonella.

Officials have received 31 reports of illness associated with eating raw alfalfa sprouts in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.

The Food and Drug Administration reports that the contaminated sprouts were grown in multiple states, raising suspicion that the problem stems from the seeds for the plants.

No deaths have been reported.

The illnesses began in the middle of March and tests are still being conducted.

The FDA says the problem is probably related to an outbreak of the same salmonella strain earlier this year in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)