Bad deli meat linked to 12 Canada deaths

TORONTO, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Federal Canadian officials say contaminated deli meats from Toronto have been linked to 12 deaths across the country and more are expected.

At an Ottawa news conference, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced the jump from four deaths and said the investigation into packaged cooked meats at Maple Leaf Foods' Toronto plant was continuing.

"We fully expect that both the number of suspected and the number of confirmed cases will increase," he said, as the incubation period of the listeria bacterium can be as long as 70 days, the Toronto Sun reported.

Ritz said there are an additional 14 confirmed cases of listeriosis linked to Maple Leaf meats and another 29 suspected cases being investigated.

Provincial health authorities in Ontario said 11 of the deaths were in Ontario, and the 12th was in British Columbia, the report said. Almost all were elderly residents of nursing homes, officials said.

Last week, Maple Leaf issued a recall for several brands of its products but expanded it to include all 220 varieties of packaged meat, the Globe and Mail reported.