The owners of the Alberta plant involved in the massive recall of beef products says it has fixed all the problems that forced food safety officials to shut it down.
    
Brian Nilsson, CEO of XL Foods Inc., says it welcomes Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors who are in Brooks, Alta., Tuesday for a pre-inspection of the facility which processes more than one-third of Canada’s beef.
    
Nilsson says XL Foods has completed all the corrective actions the agency requested since it was closed on Sept. 27 due to problems including the management of E. coli risk, maintenance and sanitation.
    
In a release, he also says the company deeply regrets the illnesses caused by the eating of beef products.

The union representing workers at the plant says the company is still not addressing food safety issues.

“Cleanliness and safety need to be the priorities when it comes to the food that is being put on Canadian tables,” says Doug O’Halloran, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401.  “We’ve dealt with other CEO’s in the meatpacking industry, but we’ve never come across anyone who wouldn’t at least meet with us to talk about food safety.”
    
The number of illnesses linked to beef from the plant stands at 11 people from four provinces.
    
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says the pre-inspection is only the first of a multi-stage process XL Foods must go through before it will be allowed to resume operating and no date has been set for it to reopen.

13 cases of E. coli reported in Saskatchewan are not linked to the Alberta plant involved in a massive beef recall; they don’t have the same strain of E. coli as 11 other Canadians who have gotten sick from meat that is linked to X-L Foods.