Health Officials are making progress in the ongoing investigations into the eight cases of E. Coli in Alberta.

This is including four cases that have recently been linked to the consumption of Kirkland brand strip loin grilling steaks purchased from an Edmonton-area Costco Wholesale store.

Alberta Health Services Senior Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Gerry Predy says one of the individuals infected saved some of the steak and it was sent in for testing.

"We got the results back from the National Laboratory to indicate that the steak sample we had and the lab did confirm that not only was the steak growing E. Coli, but it was the same genetic pattern as the individuals who were ill," says Predy.

As soon as that result came back, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a recall on those steaks from Costco.

Health officials also found the store that the steaks were sold at used a process in the stores to tenderize the steaks that may have spread the E. Coli.

"They have a piece of equipment that has some sharp needle like objects that go through the steak and pierce the steak and it tenderized this particular steak that we have linked the source to," he says.  

He says that is a concern because if the outside of the steak is contaminated, it could take the E. Coli off the surface and get it into the middle of the steak.

Health Officials asked the stores using this meat tenderizing process to stop last week.

Officials are now aware of the food source, but still do not know the source of the contamination.  

"Possibly the E. Coli could have been on the carcass the meat came from, or it could have been through this process in the store," he says.

The CFIA is still looking into the source of the carcass, but no information on where it came from has been released.

Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. James Talbot says in the last 3-5 years we've had anywhere from 60-80 cases of E. Coli reported in the province.

"That is a significant improvement because 5 years ago we were routinely over 200 cases in the province. The score for this year to date is 66 cases," Talbot says.

He says this shows that food safety efforts are paying off.

There are still no links to the three cases of E. Coli in Calgary and the one in central Alberta.