The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued another beef recall because of possible contamination with E.coli bacteria.
This time, it's strip loin beef steaks, prepared and sold in variable weight packages from Costco Wholesale on 50th Street in Edmonton, Alta.
The steaks were sold from Sept. 4 to 7 and bear one of the following "packed on" dates: 12/SE/04; 12/SE/05; 12/SE/06.
Consumers are being advised to contact the store to determine if the beef products in their home freezers may be affected.
The CFIA said there have been several confirmed illnesses associated with the consumption of these steaks purchased at this Costco outlet and it is working to have the affected products removed from the marketplace.
This recall follows ongoing expanded recalls in recent days of ground beef from XL Foods in Edmonton, Alta., involving more than 250 products distributed to various grocery stores across the country, including some in Newfoundland and Labrador. The CFIA hasn’t yet said if the strip loin steak recall is connected to the previous recalls.
After a review of XL Foods, the CFIA said in a news release, while no single factor would lead to E. coli O157:H7 contamination, a combination of several deficiencies could have played a role at the plant.
The agency identified a number of issues in the establishment’s preventative control plan. It says the detection of E. coli in slaughter facilities is not uncommon, and plants are expected to have adequate measures in place to monitor higher than normal detection rates and modify control measures accordingly. “This trend analysis was not always conducted consistently at this facility,” the federal agency said.
It went on to say “The company was unable to demonstrate through documentation that it regularly reviewed or made necessary updates to its control plan for the facility.”
XL Foods Inc. has developed a response plan which the CFIA says it has accepted and the agency will monitor corrective actions to verify that they have been implemented effectively.
As of Monday, the CFIA had issued seven alerts identifying products affected by this recall. More than 250 products have been recalled including ground beef and related products in Sobeys/Foodland stores and medium ground beef and all store-made ground beef products sold in Sobeys stores in the Atlantic region, including Newfoundland and Labrador, packed between Sept. 16 and 22.
The recall also includes Sobeys, Foodland, IGA, Metro, and Safeway stores in other provinces, Costco Kirkland Signature products nationally and beef products prepared for corporate and franchised stores of Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
The CFIA is collecting information from suppliers, distributors and retailers and additional products could be identified and recalled.
To date, no illnesses have been reported
A full list of the recalled products and stores affected is on the CFIA website, http:// www.inspection.gc.ca.
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