It appears the new management moving in to the plant at the centre of the nation’s largest meat recall is no stranger to E. coli itself.

A division of JBS had an E. coli scare in 2009 when they voluntarily recalled more than 172,000 kilograms of beef.

The contamination was found in ten American states, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

Seventeen people became ill; 12 were hospitalized and two suffered from kidney failure.

“The ground beef that might have been associated with illness was produced by other companies who often do not use the antimicrobial intervention steps we employ in our facility,” a company spokesman told ABC News in 2009.

Food safety experts were also unsure at the time of where the meat was shipped after it left the plant in Greeley, Colorado.

That meant they couldn’t trace it to grocery stores that received the products.

University of Guelph Food Distribution Professor, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, says the company’s history with E. coli is no reason for Canadians to be alarmed.

He says people must keep in mind it’s a $40-billion business.

“They do have access to a lot of capital and a lot of knowledge,” he says. “They are managing a very large organization so these recalls will happen from time to time.”

Charlebois, who toured JBS facilities in Brazil last April, says the recall was fairly similar to the one we saw in Brooks.

He believes the company will have to adjust with its move into Canada, but this will give XL access to markets it hasn’t seen in years.

“The way that the 2009 recall was handled I think was consistent with policy and was consistent with practices at the time,” the professor explains. “That was three years ago; in food safety, that’s a millennium.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has since said the recall forced JBS to re-examine its approach to food safety.