The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has raised fresh food safety “observations” at the XL Foods facility at the centre of a recent e. coli scare.
CFIA had allowed XL Foods to re-open the Alberta facility last month after lifting a suspension on operations.
Last month, operations were halted due to findings of E.coli bacteria, from which twelve cases of sickness were reported.
Since then, food officials have allowed the company to partially resume operations while it continues to review the facility.
The agency said the plant was only allowed to “progressively” resume slaughter and processing operations under “enhanced CFIA surveillance and increased testing protocols”.
However, in an update yesterday (5 November), CFIA said there had been some “observations” made by the agency that has resulted in it issuing new Corrective Action Requests (CARs). These include meat cutting areas not being adequately cleaned and condensation on pipes in the tripe room.

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By GlobalDataCFIA did say the observations were “to be expected” and that it has requested the company submit “corrective action plans outlining how they will address these issues in the longer term and mitigate future risks”.
XL Foods did not return a request for comment.