The meat plant at the middle of a massive tainted meat recall is bringing back 800 workers of the 2000 they laid off on Saturday.

The layoffs caused federal inspectors to stop their work at the XL Foods' Brooks, AB plant because they had nothing to watch over.

For its part, XL Foods said they had to lay off because the government hadn't given them a timeline for when they could get their licence back.

E.Coli linked to XL beef products have sickened at least 15 people across the country.

The NDP's agriculture critic is calling for the Agriculture Minister to step in.