BROOKS, Alberta – Officials with JBS USA, Greeley, Colo., are meeting with XL Foods Inc. employees who work at the Brooks, Alberta-based plant at the center of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak and beef recall, according to news reports.

JBS USA officials were scheduled to meet employees in groups of 100 to discuss plans for the plant which has been closed since Sept. 27. Officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers union are scheduled to meet Tuesday with industrial relations staff from JBS USA. XL Foods employed 2,000 workers at the plant.

JBS USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS SA, reached an agreement with XL Foods to manage the plant effective immediately. The agreement also gives JBS USA an exclusive option to acquire the Canadian and US operations of XL Foods.

The plant, called XL Lakeside, is one of the largest employers in southern Alberta and one of Canada's largest beef processors with the capacity to process 4,000 head of cattle daily. The company dumped between 500 and 600 tonnes of frozen beef in a landfill, according to news reports in Canada. The product is mostly frozen ground beef and trimmings. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency previously announced that XL Foods would destroy all beef involved in the recall.