The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has added even more meat to the growing recall of products from Alberta's XL Foods plant in Edmonton.

Roasts and sausages could be contaminated with E. coli and have now been added to the list.

With the temporary closure of the XL Foods beef plant at Brooks, Alberta and the continuously expanding recall, President of Western Feedlots, Dave Plett says the industry will hold up just fine.

He says he cattle industry is very resilient and it has the ability to respond to challenges.

"It will be seen a short term disruption to the normal cattle business. We anticipate the plant will be open in a couple of days and market parameters will be back to normal within weeks," Plett states. "The word we are receiving from the inside is that the progress is good towards the plants being approved once again, as being capable and clean, and a high quality packing plant."

If the plant were to remain closed, he says producers would still have options as US packers have already been seeking live cattle to ship into the US.

"We anticipate we will continue to see cattle heading to the US for slaughter which has been quite common in the industry for years," Plett says.

He thinks producers are pleased to see resources being put work and believes the situation is being dealt with well.
 
"I don't think the anxiety or fear is near that of the magnitude we've seen with other situations industry has faced in the past years," Plett states.  

He believes the media and others are blowing the situation out of proportion and making unqualified and uneducated opinions.

"E. coli exists everywhere in the environment and if food products are handled properly and cooked properly, E. coli is a non issue," Plett says. "We just have to ensure that we don't aggressively contaminate our products and that we handle our food products properly."

Alberta Health Services confirms it's now investigating a total of ten cases of E.coli.