WINNIPEG - Calgary-based XL Foods Ltd recalled and destroyed 1,500 lbs of sausage product contaminated with a potentially deadly bacterium, a company executive said.
"Our testing confirmed E. coli contamination. We were able to source all of the product and it was destroyed," XL Foods vice president Ken Levins said in a phone interview.
No illnesses were reported to date, Levins said.
In 1993, the bacterium in undercooked hamburgers killed three children and sickened hundreds of people in the United States' Pacific Northwest, prompting closer scrutiny of meat products.
XL Foods sausages recalled across Canada last week turned out to have contaminated products in one store in Hull, Quebec, and another in Cornwall, Ontario, Levins said.
E. coli 0157:H7 produces a toxin that breaks down the lining of the intestines and damages the kidneys, he said.
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