OTTAWA - Contrary to earlier claims, the subject of Listeria was broached by federal officials and Maple Leaf Foods prior to a deadly outbreak last summer that was linked to tainted meat products, documents show.

Handwritten notes from a July 24, 2008, meeting indicate officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Maple Leaf discussed "food safety in relation to Listeria," although no details about the substance of the talks were available.

The discussion took place roughly two weeks before tests linked the company's luncheon meats to the outbreak.

Both sides had previously denied that the subject of Listeria came up at the meeting. On Tuesday, they acknowledged that it did come up, but said earlier denials were made in reference to discussion of the listeriosis outbreak itself.

Initially, they said CFIA executive vice-president Brian Evans and Maple Leaf executive Rory McAlpine discussed only the company's hog and pork operations and trade issues.

But notes from the July meeting, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, show that while Evans and McAlpine did talk about hog and pork operations, they also discussed "food safety in relation to Listeria."

Further information is blanked out in the documents released by the CFIA.

CFIA spokesman Tim O'Connor said Tuesday that the July 24 discussion had nothing to do with Canada's listeriosis outbreak, but was trade related.

"(Listeria) was discussed with respect to how changes in domestic requirements have an impact on imports," he said. He declined to elaborate.

In a statement Tuesday, Evans said there was "absolutely no discussion" during the meeting about Listeria being linked to one of Maple Leaf's Toronto processing plants.

"Discussions focused on ensuring consistency of import monitoring with other jurisdictions for microbial pathogens, including Listeria," he said.

"As the executive vice-president of CFIA, I have had countless conversations about Listeria and microbial control with industry. This kind of general conversation about food safety is par for the course during meetings with industry."

McAlpine said Tuesday that he and Evans talked about U.S. standards and testing affecting the company's exports.

"The discussion was in relation to the U.S. standards for imports with respect to micro-biological standards for food safety in the United States," McAlpine said.

"In that discussion, if I recall, we had a discussion that touched on all kinds of pathogens. So, we're talking about E. coli, salmonella, Listeria. There's several pathogens that meat products are subject to in terms of inspection."

The CFIA and Maple Leaf now say they initially denied Listeria came up at the July meeting because it was not mentioned in the context of Canada's outbreak, which at that date had yet to be confirmed by lab tests.

The office of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, who's responsible for the CFIA, declined to comment.

Public health officials first suspected a listeriosis outbreak was at hand in mid-July after discovering two cases of Listeria at a Toronto nursing home.

Food samples from the nursing home reached Health Canada labs for testing on July 24 -- the same day McAlpine met Evans.

The lab results came back Aug. 5 showing the samples had tested positive for Listeria. The CFIA went back to the nursing home the following day to collect more meat and cheese samples for further testing.

The food inspection agency notified Maple Leaf on Aug. 12 that an investigation had been initiated, company spokeswoman Linda Smith said Tuesday.

The next day, Maple Leaf sent a letter to its distributors telling them about the investigation. That was followed by a recall on Aug. 17 of its luncheon meats, which was later expanded.

The death toll began to soar in late August. In all, at least 20 people died of listeriosis from consuming contaminated meat.

Maple Leaf apologized last summer after the outbreak was traced to equipment in a Toronto processing plant, which was temporarily closed during the crisis. The company has agreed to pay up to $27 million to settle class-action lawsuits.

Maple Leaf has also instituted more rigorous testing for Listeria in plants producing ready-to-eat meat.