TORONTO (The Canadian Press) — The CEO of a company at the center of a ground beef recall over possible E. coli contamination says the potentially dangerous bacteria did not originate from his Toronto plant.
Duffy Smith of Belmont Meats Ltd. says federal food safety inspectors are checking where the beef trim came from that his company uses to make burgers to find the source of the E. coli.
Smith says the beef Belmont uses is certified and inspected by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) from Canadian beef suppliers, which he declined to name.
He says since the agency issued health hazard alerts earlier this month about E. coli, Belmont has recalled about 68,000 kilograms of beef.
CFIA officials were not immediately available for comment.
Last Thursday the Ontario Ministry of Health said that some of the recalled beef has been linked to nine confirmed cases of people getting sick from E. coli in the province, two probable cases and four suspected cases.