Alberta-based meat packing company XL Foods is recalling another 11 products over fears that they could be contaminated with E. coli.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a statement Tuesday the company has voluntarily recalled a variety of meat products, including beef stew, kidneys, liver, heart, tongue, oxtail and outside round roast.
The newly recalled meats were manufactured on August 24, 27, 28, 29 and Sept. 5, 2012. They were sold in B.C. and Alberta under the brands of Freson Bros., IGA, and Market Place IGA, but could also have made their way to other small retailers and butcher shops as unbranded beef, the CFIA said.
At least 12 cases of illness caused by food contaminated by the potentially deadly E. coli O157:H7 bacterium linked to the XL Foods plant have been confirmed — seven in Alberta, one in Newfoundland and Labrador, one in British Columbia and three in Quebec — according to the CFIA.
If consumers are unsure whether they have in their home any of the more than 1,500 beef products that have been recalled to date, the agency is advising them to check with stores where they were purchased.
The plant in Brooks, Alta., at the centre of Canada's largest-ever beef recall could reopen by the end of this week, a CFIA official said Monday. It was shut down Sept. 27.
The company exports to some 20 countries, and officials in the United Sates and Hong Kong have placed restrictions on imports from XL Foods over the E. coli outbreak.
In Ottawa, the federal government's handling of the outbreak has sparked criticism from opposition parties, who charge that officials moved too slowly to curb the crisis.
U.S. officials first discovered E. coli in a shipment of beef from the Brooks plant on Sept. 3. The CFIA issued its first recall notice Sept. 16.