Calgary catering company faces 12 charges in connection to E. coli outbreak

The catering company at the centre of the Calgary E. coli outbreak has been charged by the city for allegedly operating without a food services business license.

Fueling Minds facing 12 charges and, if convicted, could face a fine of up to $120,000, the city said Wednesday.

The charges were issued after it was found that the company had been providing third party food services to five Calgary childcare centres that were not owned by the company.

The city says officers began investigating the company once news of the E. coli outbreak came out.

Providing food services the five Calgary childcare centres owned by other operations was outside the scope of the Fueling Minds Provincially licensed daycare business and required a City of Calgary business license.

A complaint about the services was also made via Calgary’s 311 service from a concerned member of the public.

“It is of utmost importance that businesses in Calgary have the proper licences in order to ensure a safer environment for Calgarians and the employees who work at such locations,” said Michael Briegel, deputy chief of business safety.

“While the vast majority of businesses do comply, those that don’t could be putting people at risk. The City of Calgary takes this very seriously.”

Dozens of children have been hospitalized and hundreds more have fallen ill during the outbreak.

Investigators have previously said the source almost certainly came from the central kitchen used by the 11 daycares at the root of the outbreak.

Premier, health officials address situation Wednesday

Premier Danielle Smith, Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Children and Family Services Searle Turton and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Mark Joffe were in Calgary providing an update to the public on the situation Wednesday, just minutes after the news of the city’s charges.

Joffe said in the update the odds were “extremely high” that one meal was responsible for the outbreak — meat loaf and vegan meat loaf served for lunch on Aug. 29.

“Unfortunately neither of these items could be tested as they were either eaten or discarded before this outbreak was identified,” said Dr. Mark Joffe.

“While we now have a likely source, what we do not know exactly is what was contaminated or how.”

He said there would be a third-party external review to ensure investigators had not missed anything in their investigation.

When asked about the charges laid by the City of Calgary, Smith called the situation “serious.”

“We leave it to the different orders of government and police service to decide if any other action needs to be taken,” she added.