Sue Bailey, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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OTTAWA - Several people approached to lead a promised probe into the deadly listeriosis outbreak were unavailable or unwilling to take on the grim task, says a senior government source.

The Harper government now says it hopes to name in the next few weeks a head investigator - likely a health-care expert - to assess the deaths of 20 people.

That timeline would leave less than two months to deliver a food-safety report and recommendations originally due March 15.

"It is a topic that is of public concern," said the government source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "People died, so it's something that we have to take seriously."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the "arm's-length" investigation last September, four days before forcing an early federal election. But he stopped short of calling for a full judicial inquiry as the death toll climbed from the listeriosis outbreak linked to luncheon meats sold by Maple Leaf Foods.

The outbreak came as the government was getting set to hand the industry more responsibility for meat inspection.

Harper promised "an arm's-length investigation to make sure we get to the bottom, on the government side, on the bureaucratic side, of exactly what transpired and to make sure as we go forward and we make changes to our system that this kind of thing can't happen again."

With less than three months to go before the government is to receive its report, critics are lambasting Harper's approach.

"It's a joke," said Rick Holley, a professor of food safety and food microbiology at the University of Manitoba.

"The government should use the folks that they're already paying to have the expertise and knowledge and understanding of what's wrong with the food system in this country, put them in a room together and get a solution," he said.

"It can't be a political appointee."

Holley has repeatedly called for a nationally co-ordinated surveillance program "that will allow us to identify the risks - those foods, for example, that make us sick more frequently and the organisms that are responsible for making us sick in those foods. We don't have those pieces of information that will allow us to identify the risk and manage it."

Holley said food inspection programs must also be better managed between levels of government.

"It will take investment on the part of government and determination." Without such action, "we'll see more of these food-borne illness outbreaks continue."

The listeria bacterium that can taint some foods can cause listeriosis - a potentially serious threat to the elderly, pregnant women and those with fragile immune systems.

Maple Leaf Foods apologized for the fatal outbreak last summer that was traced to equipment in a Toronto processing plant. The company agreed last month to pay up to $27 million to settle class-action lawsuits.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued 24 health hazard alerts between September and December warning of the potential presence of the bacterium causing listeriosis. Products ranged from sausage and luncheon meat to sliced mushrooms, prepared sandwiches and soft cheeses distributed by several different companies.

The agency has not received new money since last summer's fatal outbreak but has shifted existing cash to bolster food-safety inspections, says its executive vice-president.

"We have redeployed resources ... in terms of additional oversight to support our inspectors in the meat plants," said Brian Evans.

"We've deployed program specialists, not only at the Maple Leaf plant but have gone across the country to all of the ready-to-eat meat plants to do further verifications (testing) over and above the inspectors that are there on a daily basis."

The agency has hired 200 new food-safety inspection staff since 2006 to work in related labs, in food recall and other support areas, Evans said. Some of those new workers are now front-line inspectors in meat-processing plants, he said, but could not immediately confirm how many.

Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture Union that represents meat inspectors through the Public Service Alliance of Canada, says at least 200 more staff are needed for processed-meat inspection alone.