Lax safety enforcement caused Canada beef contamination: report

(Reuters) – The contamination of beef at a Canadian processing plant last year that sickened 18 people was caused by a lax attitude toward food safety by government and plant staff, an independent report on the incident said. Canada’s largest-ever beef recall at 4,000 tonnes spread across the country and most U.S. states, after the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alberta produced beef tainted with E. coli bacteria. It came just four years after an outbreak of listeria bacteria killed 23 Canadians who ate tainted meat produced by Maple Leaf Foods . …