Changes to the province’s food safety system are necessary to avoid another large-scale E. coli disaster like the 2023 outbreak at multiple daycares in Calgary, an Alberta review panel has found.
The 51-day outbreak, which began Sept. 4, 2023, hit 17 licensed child-care facilities, sickening hundreds of children and hospitalizing 38, the province said in a press release. One adult was also hospitalized, but no deaths were reported from the outbreak. The final case tally came in at 448 with 359 of the cases being lab confirmed and an additional 89 being probable.
Some children are still receiving long-term health support nearly a year later, Premier Danielle Smith said at a July 29 press conference.
“Last fall, families in Calgary experienced a living nightmare … during the most serious E. coli outbreak in Alberta’s history,” Ms. Smith said. “While the situation didn’t end in deaths, we do recognize the devastating impact it had on those who were affected by it—the children who got sick and their family members who suffered the pain and anxiety of watching their loved ones fight for their lives.”
The investigation commissioned by Alberta last October by a third-party panel found that the outbreak of Shiga toxin producing E. coli was linked to a shared kitchen used by the daycares.
The infected food was served during lunch on Aug. 29, 2023, but health officials were unable to confirm a conclusive cause for the outbreak because no food was left for testing.
The Food Safety and Licensed Facility-Based Child Care Review Panel’s seven-month review also found several shortcomings in the province’s food safety regulations and supervision including insufficient public health inspections and ineffective enforcement mechanisms.
A final report by the panel included 12 primary recommendations and 27 sub-recommendations centred around three main themes to prevent future outbreaks.
Led by former Calgary police chief Rick Hanson, the panel also included experts in the fields of child care, food safety, and public health.
Mr. Hanson told the press conference the panel had identified serious deficiencies in the food safety system, noting that it “needs significant update and reform.”
“The report is a series of recommendations that will provide a road map to create a safe and effective food safety system,” Hanson said.
Review Recommendations
The panel recommended fostering a culture of food safety that supports high-quality, safe, and healthy learning environments for children. It also recommended public policy, legislation, and inspection systems for food safety as well as “system alignment and integration.”Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said the province will implement several of the recommendations immediately, including putting clear expectations and frameworks in place for public health inspections.
“Work has already begun to increase the frequency of public health inspections and to improve response times in child-care facilities with food safety concerns,” Ms. LaGrange said.
Planning is also underway to raise awareness of reporting mechanisms for parents and staff, enabling them to report food safety concerns and unsafe handling, she said.
“This will also include the option for anonymous reporting,” she added. “We know how important that is.”
Plans are also in the works to ensure all licensed child-care providers are required to prominently display their most recent public health inspection reports in a location easily visible to parents and guardians during drop-off and pick-up times, Ms. LaGrange said.
The recommendations being implemented immediately are a matter of changing current processes, she said. Other recommended updates will be slower to occur because they require legislative change.
