The central kitchen that supplied food to eleven daycare centers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was in violation of several fundamental safe food-handling practices, according to a report released by Alberta Health Services (AHS).
The kitchen was ordered closed on September 4, 2023, and was inspected by the AHS the following day.
The KidsU Centennial – Fueling Minds Inc. central kitchen was linked to an outbreak of E. coli O157 infections that has infected at least 264 individuals as of September 12, 2023, and sent 37 of them to hospital.
Eleven of the hospitalized victims have been released. Twenty-five individuals remain in hospital, and 22 of those patients are suffering from haemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS. Six patients are receiving peritoneal dialysis.
The Fueling Minds kitchen supplied food to eleven daycare centers in the Calgary area. All of the centers were ordered closed pending cleaning, sanitation and inspection. All of them have now been allowed to reopen.
September 5, 2023 inspection results
AHS inspectors documented five violations of safe food handling practices during the course of the September 5th inspection. Three of the violations were identified as “critical.”
Pest control
Two live adult cockroaches were observed on the sides of stainless steel equipment around the dishwashing area. The tin cat traps by the two separate two-compartment sinks had at least 20 cockroaches on the sticky pads each.
The inspection report also noted that the three most recent pest control treatments (for June, July, and August 2023) were not properly documented.
Sanitizer
The manual sanitizer dispenser was defective, resulting in no effective sanitizer (0 ppm) being present in the final sanitizing solution.
The defective dispenser was replaced during the course of the inspection.
Temperature control
The central kitchen did not have equipment available to keep perishable food cold during transportation to the individual daycare centers. As a result, food was exposed to ambient temperature for as long as 90 minutes or more while en route to these locations.
Non-critical violations
Inspectors also recorded two non-critical violations.
- Smell of sewer gas near a sink in the food preparation area.
- Insanitary storage of a probe used to test the temperature of cooked food.
Pattern of violations
A review of past inspection reports revealed a pattern of poor food-handling and sanitation practices extending back to July 2021, when the facility was inspected for the first time.
These violations included:
- Inadequate cleaning/sanitizing of both a small KitchenAid mixer and a large commercial mixer.
- Poor maintenance of critical equipment (eg., dishwasher).
- Lack of test strips to monitor sanitizer concentration in cleaning/sanitizing solution.
- Improper storage of dishes and utensils.
- Operating without a valid Food Handling Permit.
Several of these violations were documented on multiple occasions.
What parents need to know
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