Timeline of events: 2012 E. coli outbreak and meat recall

TORONTO – Trouble continues for an Alberta meat plant as it tries to resume normal processing under the watchful eye of federal food safety inspectors.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says on its website that its staff observed a number of problems last week at XL Foods.

Global News takes a look at key events in Alberta’s XL Foods beef recall: 

August 23, 2012: Cattle are slaughtered at a plant in Brooks run by Edmonton-based XL Foods Inc. Beef slaughtered that day is later recalled.

August 24, 27, 28, 29, 2012: Beef is produced at the Brooks plant that is later recalled.

September 3, 2012: U.S. officials alert the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that beef from the Brooks plant has tested positive for E. coli 0157: H7 bacteria. Both agencies begin investigations.

September 4, 2012: E. coli is detected by CFIA and by U.S. border officials. No action is taken.

September 11 and 12, 2012: The CFIA is alerted of two more cases of E.coli that have been confirmed in meat crossing the U.S. border.

September 13, 2012: At the request of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Canada revokes the plant’s permit to export beef to the U.S.

September 16, 2012: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency sends out the first alert warning people not to eat, sell or serve 26 ground beef and ground-beef products sold at several major stores because they “may be contaminated with E. coli.” The alert says XL Foods Inc. voluntarily issued the recall although no reported illnesses have been linked to the recalled products.

READ MORE: See the CFIA’s full list of XL Foods recalled products here 

September 17, 2012: The CFIA expands the voluntary recall to add 55 more ground beef and ground-beef products to the list of products recalled across Canada. All the products were manufactured at the Brooks plant.

September 18, 2012: The CFIA expands the recall to add 14 more products.

September 19, 2012: The CFIA adds 75 more products to the recalled list. XL Foods and its parent company, Edmonton-based Nilsson Bros., release a recorded statement saying XL Foods prides itself on providing safe and high quality beef products.

September 20, 2012: The CFIA adds 37 products to the recall. The United States Food Safety and Inspection Service issues a public-health alert.

September 21, 2012: The CFIA adds 47 products to the recall. The United States Food Safety and Inspection Service updates its public-health alert.

September 22, 2012: The CFIA adds 10 products to the recall.

September 24, 2012: The CFIA issues a summary that says an in-depth review uncovered “several deficiencies” during an investigation into the slaughterhouse.

September 25, 2012: The CFIA adds 60 products to the recall. The U.S. recalls products distributed to California, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, Utah and Wisconsin. Alberta Health Services officials say they are investigating a total of eight E. coli cases, four in Edmonton, three in Calgary and one in central Alberta. Lab test results come in to Alberta Health Services at night that confirm the four Edmonton patients were infected by E. coli-tainted strip loin grilling steaks they bought at a northeast Edmonton Costco. Alberta Health Services notifies the CFIA about the test results.

September 26, 2012: Alberta Health Service officials announce that four people in Edmonton got sick from E. coli after eating Kirkland brand strip loin steaks purchased at a Costco outlet in Edmonton.
The CFIA recalls Kirkland brand beef steaks packaged and sold Sept. 4 to Sept. 7 from the Costco at 13650, 50th St. and a CFIA spokesman confirms the steaks were processed at the plant in Brooks. Top public health doctors in Alberta say they have asked Costco stores to stop using a meat-tenderizing machine that could push E. coli bacteria from the surface of meat inside, where it is protected from high cooking temperatures that kill the bacteria.
Also on this day, the United States Food Safety and Inspection Service expands its recall to cover 10 states.

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September 27, 2012: Alberta Health Services confirms it is investigating a fourth case in Calgary of E. coli poisoning, bringing the total number of recent cases in Alberta to nine. The health authority is still investigating what caused E. coli poisoning in four Calgary patients and one central Alberta patient.

September 28, 2012: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announces that XL Foods Inc. in Brooks, Alta., suspends the packing facility’s operating license and says it won’t be able to resume operations until it implements corrective actions required by the agency.
 

September 30, 2012: The CFIA adds dozens more products to its list of possibly contaminated beef products and warns consumers to inquire at the point of purchase whether the beef they’re buying came from XL Foods. Meanwhile, Alberta’s Premier Alison Redford and the province’s agricultural minister met with local producers to discuss the impact of the plant’s closure on the farming community. Redford stood behind the safety of Alberta meat.
 

October 2, 2012:Another E. coli case in northern Alberta has been linked with the consumption of a beef from XL Foods.

Shannon Evans, spokeswoman for Alberta Health Services, confirms someone in northern Alberta became sick Sept. 9 after eating a steak purchased at the northeast Edmonton Costco store on 50th Street.

The person is the fifth to become sick with E. coli after eating beef from the same Costco store.

Also on this day, XL Food recall expanded to include even more products. The newly recalled products are associated with the same X-L Foods manufacturing dates of August 27th, August 27th to 29th and September 4th – the same dates as the previous recall.

October 3, 2012: Agency president George Da Pont says Canadian inspectors asked for information from XL Foods Inc. on Sept. 6 about “critical points” where E. coli might become a problem, but didn’t get it right away.

The House of Commons holds an emergency debate on the beef crisis.

October 4, 2012: Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says that, despite several media reports, the XL Foods plant is not reopening. Ritz says he’ll require written notice from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that confirms the plant is safe before it can resume operations.

XL Foods makes its first public comment since the recall began last month, saying it takes full responsibility for its products and its operations.

October 6, 2012: Dozens of meat products and stores are added to the recall list.  

October 8, 2012: U.S. officials say the amount of recalled meat important from XL Foods is almost triple the original estimate. The US Food Safety Inspection Service estimates that at least 1,134,000 kilograms entered the country.

Later on that day, B.C. health officials link the illness of a Vancouver Island resident to beef products from XL Foods. This is the 11th illness linked to the E. coli outbreak.

October 9, 2012: Federal officials with the CFIA say they’ll conduct a detailed assessment today of the Brooks, Alberta plant. The review follows written request from XL Foods to have its license reinstated after it was revoked last month due to operational deficiencies.  

October 10, 2012: Food safety officials review a report on a pre-inspection of XL Foods plant in Alberta. Union workers said the processing line at XL Foods Lakeside plant moves too quickly, forcing workers to take shortcuts.

October 11, 2012: CFIA approves limited operations for XL beef plant. But the agency says no meat will leave the meat packer in Brooks until the agency has approved a full reopening. 

The head of XL Foods Inc. apologizes unequivocally to those who were sickened by eating tainted meat and vowed to “making sure this doesn’t happen again.”
 

October 13, 2012:  The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is under inspection. It says it will be audited later this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the first time since 2009.

CFIA adds 10 more items to the list of more than 1,800 that have been pulled from store shelves across Canada and the United States due to the possibility of E. coli contamination.

October 17, 2012: Workers at an Alberta plant at the centre of a massive beef recall and E. coli scare are laid off again as food safety officials review whether the facility can reopen.

October 19, 2012:The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says test samples from meat processed during an inspection at a troubled Alberta beef plant are negative for E. coli. Officials say that a review about overall sanitation techniques should be finalized on the weekend.

October 21, 2012: Truckloads of meat from the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta arrives at a local landfill site for disposal.

Landfill Manager Ray Juska of the Newell Regional Solid Waste Management Authority says the frozen meat stock is being run over by heavy equipment and then covered with soil to keep animals from getting at it.

The operation is being supervised by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

October 22, 2012: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says there’s no firm date for XL Foods to re-open.

The company asked workers to return to the Brooks, Alberta meat packer this week with a reopening date anticipated for October 29th.

But the inspection agency says — even though the plant has been cleared of E-coli — its licence has not been re-issued. 

October 23, 2012: CFIA lifts its suspension of the operating licence for the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alta.

The agency says the plant will be allowed to “progressively resume” slaughter and meat-processing operations.

October 29, 2012: Production begins at XL Foods after the CFIA restored the Alberta plant’s operating licence last week and also launched a review of the E. coli crisis that made at least 16 people ill.

November 4, 2012: Canadian Food Inspection Agency says on its website that its staff observed a number of problems last week at XL Foods.

They included meat areas that weren’t adequately cleaned and water sanitizer that wasn’t maintained at a high enough temperature.

It says inspectors also noted there was condensation on pipes as well as no sanitizing chemical in mats used for cleaning employees’ boots.

November 16, 2012: XL Beef resumed shipping products for the first time since an E. coli outbreak forced its closure in September.

The union representing workers at XL Foods Inc. in Brooks, Alta., says the shipments include a full range of products, including ground beef and steaks.
 

–  with files from The Canadian Press