AHS details cockroaches, previous violations at kitchen used by Calgary daycares affected by E. coli outbreak

A report, released by Alberta Health Services Tuesday, details health violations at a shared kitchen used by a number of daycares in the city. 

This comes after an outbreak of the shiga toxin-producing E. coli, which can cause serious issues, at a number of daycares in Calgary. 

The outbreak has resulted in a number of children in hospital and on dialysis after developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, a disease which affects the kidneys.

At a press conference Tuesday, Dr. Mark Joffe, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said the inspection came after a noticeable increase in young children coming to the emergency departments in the city with gastrointestinal complaints, including bloody diarrhea. 

“This occurred, of course, over the long weekend in September. The emergency department physicians were very astute and quickly recognized that something unusual was happening and they reached out to the medical officer of health on call and to the team,” Joffe said. 

“From there it was quickly determined that the cases that they were seeing were linked to daycare centres and, in turn, those daycare centres were linked to one centralized kitchen.” 

Since then, there have been 264 lab-confirmed cases of E. coli connected to the outbreak. The cause of the outbreak has not yet been determined and remains under investigation. 

In an environmental inspection report of the kitchen at KidsU Centennial – Fueling Minds Inc., AHS detailed “significant evidence of a pest infestation” at the food establishment on Sept. 5, the date of the inspection. 

“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 report read. 

AHS said the inspection also found instances of food not being handled in a manner that makes it safe to eat, and a lack of appropriate equipment for keeping food cold during transportation. 

Recent inspections show violations cited on a number of dates ahead of the September inspection.

Joffe said the kitchen is closed and will only reopen once AHS has determined that it is safe. 

He added that Alberta Health Services conducts more than 40,000 inspections a year — and it is unusual to have a completely clean inspection. 

Prior to the closure, he said, the facility had last been inspected in April. Two infractions were found at that time, and they were corrected. By the end of April, there were no violations in the kitchen, he said.  

“However, three critical violations were identified during the inspection a week ago and these violations related to food handling, sanitation and pest control. There are also two non-critical violations that were identified. It related to an odour in the kitchen as well as the storage of some utensils,” Joffe said.

“We still need to learn from this incident. We do. We have not found the source of the infection. We continue to work on that and we are optimistic that by the time the investigation is complete, we will have a much better sense for exactly what happened, why it happened, and then what needs to be done to prevent it.” 

There are currently 25 patients receiving care in hospital, the province said in an emailed media release — 22 of whom are confirmed as having hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is a severe illness caused by E. coli infection. 

Six patients are receiving peritoneal dialysis at Alberta Children’s Hospital. The children with severe illness are all in stable condition and are receiving the care they need in hospital. Other children and families are receiving care and support at three outpatient clinics set up in Calgary hospitals.