TORONTO - While an investigation has yet to confirm a link, Canadian health and food safety inspectors haven't yet ruled out a possible connection between contaminated meat from an Alberta-based facility and a fatal summer E. coli outbreak in this country.
"These cases had the same unique genetic pattern associated with it," Canadian Food Inspection Agency recall specialist Garfield Balsom said in an interview Sunday from Ottawa.
But he said scientific confirmation the illnesses were linked to meat from Rancher's Beef Ltd. of Balzac, Alta. can't be made at this point.
"The linkage we had made with Rancher's was not associated with the illnesses, or any source of the illnesses that occured this summer," he said. "There was nothing common that could link us back to a particular source for that outbreak."
A total of 46 cases of E. coli illness scattered across the country were reported between July and September according to a CFIA release on Oct. 26.
Data from Quebec's Agriculture, Fisheries and Food ministry shows 21 of those cases were in Quebec, with 10 in Ontario, seven in B.C., five in New Brunswick, two in Saskatchewan and one unlocated. Eleven people were hospitalized and one elderly person in Quebec died.
Balsom says the Canadian cases have been linked to the same E.coli strain (O157:H7) that led to a September recall of Topps Meat Co. in the U.S. and sickened 40 people in eight states. It was the second largest beef recall in U.S. history and forced Topps out of business. Rancher's has also ceased operations.
Balsom is not ruling out a possible link between Rancher's and the Canadian outbreak, saying investigations into both cases are ongoing.
"We're going back and reviewing some of the information, the illness data to see if we can trace forward that," Balsom added, noting investigators are having difficulty doing that because some of the cases are "old."
A spokesman for the Public Health Agency of Canada confirms suspicion of a connection to Rancher's products remains legitimate.
"Are all of these cases of illness linked to Rancher's? We don't know that yet," said Alain Desroches. "We just know that the same strain has been associated with meat found there.
"Investigation is complex and involves laboratory testing of 11 different subtypes of E. coli," Desroches added in an interview from Ottawa.
Over the weekend, Canadian officials identified more outlets where potentially contaminated Rancher's beef, steaks and roasts - now subject to recall - were sold between June and August this year. So far, they total 19 and stretch from B-C to Ontario.
The CFIA insists the affected products are likely no longer available for sale, but consumers who may still have them in their freezers should not consume them. The agency also says there have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products.
Meantime, U.S. regulators have tightened restrictions on meat and poultry products from Canada because of concerns about testing practices at Rancher's.
Starting next week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service will increase testing of Canadian meat and poultry for salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7, and plans to audit the Canadian food safety system.
The inspection service will require that shipments be held up until testing is done and the green light is given.
"This is very serious, at least in the short term," Ted Haney, president of the Canadian Beef Export Federation, told The Canadian Press on Saturday.
He said major beef processing plants have already made the decision to either not operate for the next couple of days or to reduce processing volumes and not trade to the United States.
"This is excessive," he said of the audit. "It was done without consultation, it was done unilaterally, it doesn't reflect the risk of E. coli O157:H7 in both Canada and the United States."
Haney said in the Topps case, three new toxic strains of E. coli O157:H7 were actually found, but only one was traced back to its source.
"That was to Rancher's Beef, in part because of the good work completed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency."
Haney said the Americans are not putting the same level of scrutiny on their own industry.
A joint U.S.-Canadian investigation matched the DNA fingerprint of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria isolated from beef trim that had remained in storage with Rancher's Beef to samples taken from victims of the U.S outbreak and packages of Topps frozen hamburgers.
Rancher's Beef had supplied Topps with beef trim used to make the patties, the USDA said. Topps, based in Elizabeth, N.J., recalled 9.8 million kilograms of beef.
