The Fueling Brains daycare West 85th location in Calgary, Alberta on Sept. 13, 2023.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
A Calgary daycare operated by Fueling Brains, the company at the centre of an outbreak of E. coli last fall that sickened hundreds, has closed again this week after a child tested positive for the bacterial infection.
Fueling Brains, in a statement, said it was notified late on Wednesday that a one-year-old child attending the West 85th campus in southwest Calgary had tested positive for E. coli. The company said it promptly notified parents and Alberta Health Services.
“We have no evidence this originated at the campus, nor that it has spread,” said the statement. “However, out of an abundance of caution, we voluntarily closed the West 85th campus for the remainder of the week to allow for deep cleaning and to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff.”
West 85th was one of six Fueling Brains locations connected to the outbreak of E. coli that infected nearly 500 people, most of whom were children, between September and October last year. It was one of the largest recorded outbreaks of E. coli in Canada’s history.
Kerry Williamson, a spokesperson with Alberta Health Services, said in a statement that the health authority is aware of the most recent case and is working with the daycare facility to “gather information on this situation.”
“AHS has not declared an outbreak at the facility at this time. Out of an abundance of caution, the operator has voluntarily closed the facility and is performing a deep clean,” Mr. Williamson said. “At this time, AHS does not have any evidence to suggest that there has been on-site transmission, however we will be monitoring this situation closely.”
Last year’s outbreak was traced to food prepared at Fueling Minds, a catering kitchen that shared the same owners as Fueling Brains. Five other child-care sites, which obtained food from the catering kitchen, had to shut their doors during the outbreak, which ended Oct. 31.
Fueling Minds was charged last September under municipal bylaws for providing third-party food services to those five daycares without the appropriate business licence. Calgary police are still investigating the initial outbreak in co-ordination with AHS and confirmed, in a statement Thursday, that no charges have been laid.
The catering kitchen has not been in operation since Aug. 31, according to Fueling Brains.
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Last November, Meals on Wheels was contracted to provide meals to Fueling Brains attendees, but it is unclear if it is still doing so. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
On Wednesday, the daycare operator also flagged an increasing number of illnesses around its Walden location in southeast Calgary, according to a screenshot of a July 3 letter to parents from the academy.
“Over the past couple of days we have noticed a notable rise in respiratory sickness around our area,” the letter said. “In communications with AHS, they have indicated there is no need for an outbreak status.” Staff began wearing masks and an outside company was hired to deep clean the facility, according to the letter.
Inspectors traced the source of last year’s E. coli outbreak to meatloaf and its vegan equivalent, but were never able to determine how the food was contaminated.
Fueling Minds was notified repeatedly over three years by public health inspectors of concerns over its kitchen’s cleanliness. Following the outbreak, a health inspection revealed that food was being transported without temperature control for longer than 90 minutes, living and dead cockroaches were in the food-preparation area and there was a “sewer gas smell.”
No violations were reported during the last public health inspection of the West 85th campus, conducted on April 25.
The Walden location has not been inspected since last November, during which inspectors noted its thermometer, used to monitor foods during cooling, cooking and reheating, had “not been calibrated to ensure accuracy.” The report states that the violation was corrected during the inspection.
Other violations were related to utensils and equipment storage. Inspectors noted that cutting knives were stored in a wooden knife block that is “porous and not cleanable” and cutting boards were kept within the “splash zone” of the sink used for hand and toy washing.