A $4 million class action settlement is available for anyone in Canada or the United States who suffered an economic loss or or physical illness or injury from beef recalled in 2012 by XL Foods in Brooks, Alberta. 
Lawyers who filed the class action in 2013 said an Alberta court has approved the settlement amount…
Canada’s Food Inspection Agency Given Lowest Passing Grade in U.S. Audit
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) received an “adequate” rating – the lowest passing grade – in the latest audit by the U.S. government to determine its equivalency on food safety standards, according to documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to the audit, the CFIA needs to improve oversight of practices…
Alberta Beef Plant Back at Full Capacity Following 2012 E. coli Outbreak
The beef processing plant in Alberta, Canada that was the source of an E. coli outbreak that sickened 18 people in Canada last fall has returned to full capacity under new management. In September of 2012, XL Foods of Brooks, Alberta initiated a recall of beef products after a sample tested at the U.S. Canadian…
Weak Food Safety Culture Led to XL Foods Recall, Review Finds
Company and Canadian Food Inspection Authority (CFIA) staff at XL Foods had a lax approach to food safety leading up to the massive beef recall last fall, according to an independent review released by the Canadian government. The report also found that XL Foods was not prepared to execute the recall – which was the…
JBS USA Will Complete XL Purchases in Canada on Monday
Colorado-based JBS USA will fire up its JBS Food Canada Inc. subsidiary Monday by closing the purchase of several XL Foods operations located north of the 48th parallel, including the troubled Lakeside beef processing plant in Brooks, Alberta. In the purchase, JBS Food Canada will acquire the 4,000-head-per-day beef packing plant at Brooks, XL’s 1,000-head-per-day…
Food Safety Top Concern for Canadians
The safety of the food supply is a leading concern for Canadians, according to a survey conducted more than a month after XL Foods recalled 1.5 million pounds of beef products sold in the country for potential E. coli contamination. The XL beef was eventually linked to 18 E. coli O157:H7 illnesses that occurred between…
Antitrust Review Sought for JBS Takeover of XL Beef Units
About 40 agricultural and consumer groups have asked the U.S. Justice Department for an expanded, in-depth antitrust review of the possible takeover of XL Four Star Beef Holdings in the United States by Greeley, CO-based JBS, USA. The request came in a Dec. 21 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Renata B. Hesse, the…
Canada’s Meat Inspectors Told to Ignore Messy Carcasses Not Bound for Japan
Canada’s CTV News went public with a four-year-old memorandum from the troubled XL Foods beef plant that told meat inspectors to turn a blind eye to fecal and intestinal contamination on carcasses—except for the beef headed for Japan. The memo issued to inspectors by a meat hygiene supervisor at the Brooks, Alberta beef plant said…
18th Victim Added to Canada’s E. coli Outbreak
Another E. coli case linked to beef from XL Foods’ Brooks, Alberta processing facility has raised the number of victims in the ongoing outbreak to 18. This newest victim, an Alberta resident, became ill around Oct. 15 from eating beef kept in a home freezer, according to the provincial health agency, which is continuing the…
JBS Sees Food Safety Problems in First Week of XL Foods Takeover
Set aside its less-than-stellar first week on the job, set aside the howling by some ranchers about the usual antitrust complaints, and set aside that nothing is yet final, and you still have smart money betting that this new makeup of the North American beef industry is going to be around for a long, long…