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The full extent of a nationwide health crisis linked to tainted deli meats will not be known for weeks, the federal Health Minister advised yesterday, as the number of confirmed cases and deaths continues to rise and Maple Leaf Foods, the company at the centre of the outbreak, extended its product recall.

"We expect that both the numbers of suspected cases and confirmed cases will increase as this investigation continues and samples continue to be received from provincial, territorial and federal partners," Health Minister Tony Clement said in Ottawa.

The Health Minister added that because symptoms of listeriosis can occur for months after food is consumed, it may be several weeks before this outbreak completes its course.

First made public more than a week ago, the outbreak has already been linked to four deaths out of 21 confirmed cases, with 30 more under investigation. On the weekend, public health officials definitively linked Maple Leaf products to the illness, finding a match in two cases between the listeria strain found in the company's meat and the strain involved in the outbreak.

Maple Leaf Foods, which had previously closed for cleaning the Toronto plant linked to the cases, has extended its product recall to all meat produced at that facility, urging Canadians to check their kitchens for affected products.

Maple Leaf chief executive Michael McCain took steps over the weekend to contain the damage to his firm's reputation and halt the continued spread of the illness, speaking to the media and consumers directly with an apology posted on YouTube and a television ad.

"We know this has shaken your confidence in us," he says in the spots that began to air yesterday in Ontario and the rest of the country today.

Maple Leaf is working with distributors to track down all 220 products from the Toronto site, which Mr. McCain told reporters could be anywhere in Canada. That could take as long as three to five days, he said during a news conference at the firm's Toronto head office, urging individual consumers to scour their refrigerators for sliced meat with 97B printed next to the best-before date on the package - the code for the Toronto plant.

He put the cost of the crisis to his firm at $20-million - 10 times more than initial estimates - but stressed his first priority is personal costs, not corporate ones.

"Going through the crisis there are two advisers I've paid no attention to," Mr. McCain said. "The first are the lawyers, and the second are the accountants. It's not about the money or the legal liability, this is about our being accountable for providing consumers with safe food."

Mr. McCain said the company expects to reopen the Toronto plant, one of 23 run by the company, as early as tomorrow.

Maple Leaf shares fell 10 per cent last week to $9.80, as investors unloaded their holdings as the recall developed. It's been a particularly bad year for the company's shares, down 34 per cent as of Friday's close, as higher grain and fuel costs have eaten into profits. A conference call for investors is scheduled for this morning.

Public-health officials say this is among the biggest meat recalls in Canadian history. But health officials stressed that not all cases of listeriosis can be traced back to the Maple Leaf products, saying that about 60 to 70 so-called "background" cases are typically found in Canada every year.

To date, officials have conducted some 2,000 checks in Ontario alone to make sure the affected products are off the retail shelves.

Those checks have come too late for the close to two dozen Canadians hit by the bacterial infection, which can cause serious illness especially among the very young and the elderly. Pregnant women also are at higher risk.

In Duncan, B.C., a 64-year-old patient died on July 29 - before the meat recall -- at Cowichan District Hospital after he was served meat that was tainted.

Suzanne Germain, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Island Health Authority, said yesterday the cause of death has not yet been determined, but confirmed that the patient had listeriosis and the hospital had infected meat. "It's highly likely that the hospital meat was related to the death," she said.

The patient, whose name has not been released, was in palliative care and had been in and out of the hospital on several occasions in the weeks before he died.

The three other deaths took place in Ontario, and confirmed cases have been found in that province as well as B.C., Quebec and Saskatchewan.

A full list of the products covered by the recall is posted on the Maple Leaf website.

With reports from Steve Ladurantaye and Robert Matas

Watch the video: Maple Leaf Foods CEO Michael McCain apologizes for the listeria outbreak and offers his condolences to the families of the dead, and those who have been sickened.