CALGARY — Canada’s food inspection agency temporarily suspended XL Foods’ licence to operate a meat processing plant in Brooks late Thursday because it had failed to correct problems that led to tainted beef ending up on grocery shelves and restaurant tables across the continent.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s decision came as the U.S expanded its recall of beef from XL Foods Inc. to 30 states and questions about the slowness of authorities to react to evidence of a food safety crisis were raised on both sides of the border.

The agency said in a release that information provide by the company on Sept. 26 and gathered through inspector oversight showed the company — one of the country’s largest meat packers — had not corrected deficiencies identified during a recent on-site review.

Until the problems are fixed and management presents acceptable plans to fix longer-term issues, the food inspection agency said the plant will not be allowed to resume operations.

“All products currently at this plant are under CFIA detention and control,” said the release, “and will only be released after being tested for E. coli 0157:H7.”

More than 2,200 workers are employed at the Brooks facility, but the plant has operated only intermittently since the U.S. ban meant XL Foods no longer had a market for approximately half its product.

There have been no layoffs as yet, but a source in Brooks said that on Thursday afternoon staff were sent home early because of a “major plumbing issue” and told to listen to the radio next week for word on when they should return to work.

Company spokesman Morton Paulsen was unavailable for comment.

With the capacity of approximately 4,800 head a day, the plant is one of the largest in Canada and the economic lifeblood of the southeastern Alberta city, which has a population of 13,700.

Brooks Mayor Martin Shields said he’s praying the suspension is lifted as soon as possible.

“Anytime there is a work stoppage, you’re concerned because it’s obviously the largest employer,” Shields said.

“It would have a significant economic impact if it was closed for an extended length of time.”

While no outbreaks of poisonings have been reported yet by American officials, the province’s health authority revealed that another patient in Calgary has fallen ill from the potentially fatal bacteria, bringing to nine the number of cases that may be linked to contaminated product from XL Foods.

Grocery stores as far away as Puerto Rico are being asked to pull from their shelves ground beef that was among a reported 404,000 kilograms of trim shipped from the Brooks facility to a dozen American processors in recent weeks.

Most of the tainted meat being recalled — including an estimated 907,000 kilograms distributed in Canada — was slaughtered on Aug. 23 and processed further at the Brooks plant on four days that followed.

A shipment intercepted at the border by U.S. inspectors in Sweetgrass, Mont., on Aug. 30 yielded a positive test result for E. coli 0157: H7 three days later that was promptly reported to their Canadian counterparts.