Judge weighs bylaw fine for company in case of E. coli outbreak at Calgary daycares

CALGARY — A commercial kitchen company pleaded guilty Thursday to four bylaw offences after a massive E. coli outbreak at Calgary daycares led to hundreds of children falling ill.

Fueling Minds Inc. was charged after the eight-week outbreak that was declared in September 2023.

There were at least 448 infections, and 39 children and one adult were hospitalized because of severe illness.

The pleas came at what had been scheduled as the first day of trial, and a joint submission from lawyers recommended a fine of $10,000.

Justice Mathieu St. Germain said he wants time to review the facts and set a sentencing decision for May 27.

“As we know, this is an important matter and it has to be given the proper care as you have in negotiating this agreement,” the judge said.

“Now it’s my turn to give it the same level of care and make a decision.”

Health officials have said Fueling Minds provided breakfast, lunch and snacks to its own daycares and also several separate daycares.

The day after the outbreak was declared, the company was flagged for three health violations, including a lack of proper sanitization methods, a pest infestation that included cockroaches and food being transported without temperature control.

A report last year said the outbreak was likely tied to meat loaf, but it couldn’t be determined for sure if the bacteria came from a contaminated ingredient or something else.

The province also launched a third-party review that made recommendations to better protect the health and safety of children in licensed child-care facilities.

An agreed statement of facts presented in court says that during the time Fueling Minds had agreements with four other daycares, from October 2022 and August 2023, it operated without a food services business licence.

In 2021, a company administrator sent an email to Alberta Health Services asking what steps were required to operate its food service but did not receive a response, says the court document.

“It has not been established that Fueling Minds’ failure to obtain a food services business licence caused the incident,” it says.

The lawyer for Fueling Minds, Steve Major, told court that his client takes what happened very seriously. It’s a first offence, he added, and the exact cause of the outbreak remains a mystery that is to be examined in a separate lawsuit.

“I implore the court here not to bring the passion, emotion, the venom … from that (civil) proceeding,” Major said. “The E. coli breakout is different from what this proceeding is meant to address, which is a failure to have a catering licence,” Major said.

“Our client had a kitchen licence. This venue was not a Popsicle stand in a back alley … it used to be a commercial restaurant.

“It was an administrative box that was not checked.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press