The XL Foods plant in Calgary that is at the heart of an ongoing E. coli scare is expected to reopen within days, reports the Toronto Sun.

Richard Arsenault, director of the CFIA's meat programs division, said first XL Foods needs to implement at its Brooks plant new data analysis procedures, which is believed to be the source of the problems.

"They were doing the testing right, they were finding positives and they were taking them out of the system," he said. "Then there were clusters of them where there shouldn't have been."

The news comes as the recall expanded once more, with several steak products carried by several major retailers added to the list of recalled products. The recall now stretches several Canadian provinces and 30 U.S. states.

More important is what led to this contamination, said UFCW Local 401 negotiator Tom Hesse. Line speed imposed on workers at the more than 2,000 cattle-per-day plant has always been an issue, he said.

"Things fall through the cracks ... they're trying to do too much with too little," he said.

Jason Danard, sales and marketing vice-president for Calgary Stockyards, defended XL Foods, calling it a first-class operation and said the shutdown is damaging.

"Every day the plant is dark we have a backlog of cattle that aren't going through the system," he said, noting there are further pressures with increased cost to feed the animals.

"(The industry is) a finely tuned machine, but when something's not operating, it will create challenges for everyone."

Source: Toronto Sun