'Slap in the face': Moms of kids who got sick during E. coli outbreak upset with $10K fine
Fueling Minds pleaded guilty to bylaw offences last month
The Calgary company at the centre of a daycare E. coli outbreak was handed a $10,000 fine Tuesday morning after a judge accepted a joint sentence recommendation following the company's guilty plea to bylaw offences last month.
Fueling Minds Inc. — a catering company that provided food to local daycares — admitted to operating without a food services business licence at the time of the E. coli outbreak, which was declared in September 2023.
But with an ongoing proposed class action lawsuit before the courts, lawyers for both the company and the city, as well as the judge, were careful to separate Fueling Minds' guilt for the bylaw offence from any connection to the E. coli outbreak.
"That nexus for connection is not in the facts before me," said Justice of the Peace Mathieu St-Germain.
"I'm not entitled to start drawing such inferences or speculating outside of evidence. I'm bound by those facts at the end of the day."
'A lifelong battle'
At least 448 people — mostly children — fell ill and 40 people ended up in hospital. The most serious cases involved 23 patients who were diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a condition that can lead to life-threatening kidney failure.
A total of 19 daycares were affected by the outbreak.
Kyla Herman's four-year-old daughter developed HUS. Herman was at court for Tuesday's sentencing decision.
"It was devastating. She was hospitalized for two weeks, her symptoms turned into HUS. So now this is a lifelong battle that we will live with forever," said Herman.
"How was this kitchen able to operate with all of these violations, why weren't they shut down?"
Inspections conducted by Alberta Health Services (AHS) leading up to the outbreak and one on the day after it was declared found a number of violations in the Fueling Minds kitchen. Those included "significant evidence" of cockroach infestations, unsafe food handling and a lack of proper equipment for keeping food cold during transportation.
The City of Calgary said it had traced the outbreak to the catering company that prepared food for its daycares, Fueling Brains, as well as other child-care businesses in the city.
Sarah MacDonald's four-year-old son was also hospitalized with HUS during the outbreak.
"We have built a system that really prioritizes wealth and corporations over safety," said MacDonald in the lobby of the courthouse.
"I can understand that a fine needed to be awarded here today, but why would anyone or any corporation be motivated by this fine … it would cost more to send my child to [Fueling Brains Academy] for one year than what they paid in fines today."
A report released by AHS found the E. coli likely came from a beef meatloaf served from the Fueling Minds central kitchen on Aug. 29, 2023.
During the plea, the company admitted it did not have a food services business licence at the time of the outbreak.
Fueling Minds' lawyer Steve Major told the court that the company had a kitchen licence but not a catering licence, "an administrative box that was not checked."
The remaining charges faced by the company's two directors were withdrawn at the end of Tuesday's proceedings.
"Every single system that was supposed to protect our kids and was supposed to protect them from this type of negligence failed," said Whitney Mercer, whose three children got sick during the E. coli outbreak.
"This is a slap in the face to every one of the families that had to deal with this.… No one protected our kids from that negligence. No one."
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