Maple Leaf Foods Inc., Canada's largest food processor, said it recalled 23 delicatessen meat products as authorities warned of an outbreak of Listeria bacteria that was responsible for one death in Ontario. A small number of Sure Slice meat products made at the company's Bartor Road plant in Toronto tested positive for listeria, Maple Leaf said today in a statement. The Toronto-based company said the move is an expansion of a previous Sure Slice recall announced on Aug. 17.

"The company has initiated a voluntary recall of these products, and as a precautionary measure expanded the recall to include all products produced on the two manufacturing lines involved from June 2,'' Maple Leaf said in the statement.

Maple Leaf spokeswoman Linda Smith couldn't be reached for immediate comment.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said in a separate statement it's working with provincial and local health authorities, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to investigate an increase in Listeriosis cases.

There have been 17 confirmed cases, including one death in the province of Ontario, attributed to the same strain of Listeriosis, the agency said today. Of the cases, 13 were in Ontario, two in British Columbia and one each in Saskatchewan and Quebec, it said.

Deli Products

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency released a list of suspect deli products, warning the public not to eat them.

"No direct link has been made between the affected products and human illness,'' the food-inspection agency said in its own statement.

Maple Leaf fell 11 cents, or 1 percent, to C$10.59 at 4:10 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares have declined 29 percent this year.

About 2,500 people develop serious infections from listeria each year in the U.S., and 500 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.