Canadian health officials now say 12 deaths have been linked to a listeriosis outbreak from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in North York, Ont.
The spike in deaths is because they have reworked the definition to include any cases where Listeria is an underlying or contributing factor to a person's illness, said Agricultural Minister Gerry Ritz at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Health officials also said that they are dealing with 26 confirmed cases of listeriosis and are investigating another 29 suspected cases. Of the 26 confirmed cases, there have been 12 deaths --11 victims were from Ontario and the other was from British Columbia.
The B.C. death had been on a list of confirmed cases but federal health officials said it remains "controversial" and is still under investigation.
Of the 11 deaths in Ontario, Listeria has been definitively linked to six of them while five cases are still under investigation to determine the extent the bacteria had on the death.
The disease has an incubation period of up to 70 days, meaning there could be more cases in the coming weeks. Officials recently confirmed a case in Cranbrook, B.C.
Maple Leaf Foods has recalled all of its products that were manufactured at the Ontario plant. But despite such measures, CTV British Columbia reported that a Safeway store in B.C. was still selling at least one of the banned products as recently as Sunday.
The store has since removed the product from its shelves.
A Montreal lawyer who specializes in class-action lawsuits said that more than 100 people have contacted him in the last four days about launching legal action against Maple Leaf Foods.
Tony Merchant, of Merchant Law Group, told CTV.ca Monday afternoon that he would be filing the suit by the end of the day.
He said the suit will represent three classes of people -- those who have become sick after ingesting the food, those who have suffered a financial loss for having to throw meat out and those who are suffering from mental distress because of the outbreak.
"The worry is more significant than I thought," he said. "We tend to think we've got (the infection) because we're hunting for those symptoms. For a very large number of people, they are entitled to some compensation just for the worry."
The suit is being launched in four provinces -- Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Merchant said it could take months before a judge approves the cases and years before the complainants receive compensation.
Linda Smith, spokesperson for Maple Leafs Foods, said the company wasn't prepared to speculate on legal action but noted that the CEO of the company has said that he will do what is best for the public.
More than two-dozen sandwich varieties have been added to a long list of products recalled over fears they may be linked to contaminated meat from Maple Leaf Foods.
The sandwiches were added to the list early Monday. A statement from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Lucerne foods was recalling the 28 varieties of Safeway and TakeAwayCafe brand sandwiches.
The sandwiches are available in Alberta and Saskatchewan at Safeway and Mac's Convenience Stores and could contain deli meat from the Toronto plant identified as the source of the bacteria.
There have been no reported sickness linked to the sandwiches.
Maple Leaf expanded recall
Only a handful of products were included in the initial Maple Leaf recall. The expanded list -- described as precautionary by Maple Leaf -- now includes up to 220 products.
The company recalled all meat products that were manufactured at the Toronto facility after three people died in Ontario, and one in British Columbia.
That number could still rise since the bacteria can have a lengthy incubation period, said Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. David Butler-Jones.
"Certainly that's possible," he told CTV's Canada AM.
"As a country we're still looking at relatively small numbers, but the incubation period -- the time from when you are exposed to when you get sick -- can vary from as small as three days to over two months."
Patients contract listeriosis after consuming foods contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
Public health officials have warned that food contaminated with Listeria may not look or smell like it has spoiled.
Listeriosis can cause flu-like symptoms, such as a stiff neck, headache, nausea and fever.
Healthy individuals may remain symptom-free. However, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk.
'Successful' handling
Smith also said that the company has been asking experts about emerging technologies to help prevent an outbreak from happening again. She said that the company has protocols in place that far exceed stringent regulatory requirements.
Ontario health officials knew about some Listeria cases in July, but it was not until last week that any products were recalled.
"These products have been distributed nationally to retail stores and food service institutions such as restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes, and other institutional cafeterias or kitchens," Maple Leaf Foods said in a news release.
"These products may also be sold at deli counters. If the original product identity and best before code is not evident, consumers are advised to check with their retailer to determine if the product is included in the list of recalled products."
Despite the four deaths, Health Minister Tony Clement said authorities acted quickly to warn Canadians about the outbreak and called it a "success."
Butler-Jones agreed the handling of the outbreak has been successful so far. He said Canada has one of the safest food distribution and preparation systems in the world -- but it's not 100 per cent safe, and food poisoning and bacteria outbreaks will occur from time to time.
"Being able to recognize it and then do things to limit that impact -- that's really where the system can kick in," he said.
Maple Leaf has warned consumers not to serve or eat meat products labelled with establishment number 97B.
Customers can find the number near the "best before" label or packaged on dates.
The affected sandwiches are sold in 180-gram packages. They have best-before dates of up to and including Aug. 22 and 24. The UPC code is 7-76393017001-8.
CFIA initiated the recall because the sandwich contains sliced corned beef -- one of the deli meat products recalled by Maple Leaf Foods earlier this month.
Anyone wishing for more information from the company can call their consumer affairs hotline at 1-800-568-5801.
