Federal inspectors to tour closed XL Foods meat plant

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will today begin conducting a "detailed assessment" of the XL Foods plant at the centre of a massive beef recall.

Agency officials said they will check safety controls and determine if XL Foods has fixed the problems that were uncovered at the Brooks, Alta., plant by federal inspectors.

The CFIA has said the company didn't keep proper records. There was also a range of sanitation issues, such as employees not thoroughly washing their hands after touching raw meat.

Dr. Harpreet Kochhar, executive director of western operations for the CFIA, said inspectors will walk through the plant to "make sure the correction action plan has been implemented.

"At this point there is no date or indication if the plant will be operational," Kochhar said.

The review follows a written request from XL Foods Inc. to have its licence reinstated. It was revoked in late September due to deficiencies in operations.

All of the XL Foods meat products continue to be under CFIA control.

E. coli was first detected at the Alberta plant on Sept. 4, but it took 12 days for the first of numerous public alerts to be issued.

Cases in four provinces

The number of cases of E. coli in Canada linked to the strain from XL's contaminated product now sits at 11, with a case on Vancouver Island.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control said Monday that a patient who tested positive two weeks ago has recovered from the illness and an investigation has been launched into the source of the contamination.

Based on all the information collected by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the other 10 cases involving the strain linked to products from XL Foods were found in Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec.

On Monday, the recall on beef products expanded to Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety has advised companies to stop selling and to recall what it describes as "a small portion" of beef from XL Foods that had made its way to local shops. The agency said imports have been suspended for XL products produced on or after Aug. 24.