2023 Calgary E. coli outbreak | |
---|---|
Bacteria strain | Shigatoxigenic E. coli |
Source | Contaminated food |
Location | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
Date | Sept. 5 – Oct. 31, 2023 (56 days) |
Confirmed cases | 356 |
Severe cases | 23; 8 required dialysis |
Hospitalized cases | 39 (38 children, 1 adult) |
Deaths | 0 |
The 2023 Calgary E. coli outbreak first occurred in daycares in the Calgary area, in Alberta, Canada, and was the result of E. coli contamination from a kitchen facility. The outbreak was declared on September 5, 2023, and resulted in 356 confirmed cases and a further 90 suspected cases before it was declared over by the Alberta Health Services on October 31, 2023. No deaths were attributed to the outbreak.
The outbreak was likely the result of meatloaf and vegan-meatloaf served at daycare centres on August 29, 2023. [1] [2] Initial cases of gastrointestinal illness were first identified between August 31, 2023 and September 3, 2023 at Calgary area hospitals. [3] On September 5, 2023, Alberta Health Services declared an outbreak of E. coli for six locations operated by Fueling Brains and an additional five locations that were supplied by Fueling Brains. [4] On September 11, 2023, mandatory testing was implemented for students and staff who attended five identified daycares. [3]
The first official public address of the outbreak the provincial government was on September 12, 2023 where Alberta Health Services released an inspection reported dated September 5, 2023, showing that the kitchen likely responsible for the outbreak "lacked proper sanitization methods, had a pest infestation and food was transported without temperature control." [3] In a letter addressed to physicians, Alberta Health Services identified the E. coli as a Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) on September 17, 2023. [5]
On September 18, 2023 with 348 cases, officials expected that the number of cases had peaked. [3]
On October 31, 2023, Alberta Health Services declared the outbreak over after 56 days, following the final release of all patients from the hospital. [2] [6] In total, 356 patients had been confirmed infected with E. coli. Thirty-two cases were identified as secondary cases, having most likely received the contamination from exposure to someone who had been exposed to the contaminated food. In total, 39 people were hospitalized (of those, 38 were children); 23 were diagnosed with severe outcome of hemolytic uremic syndrome and 8 required peritoneal dialysis. [2] No deaths were attributed to the outbreak.
On September 16, 2023 the provincial government announced a compassionate care fund of CA$2,000 for families affected by the outbreak. [7]
Fueling Minds, the kitchen responsible for the source of the outbreak, was charged by the City of Calgary for operating without a business license. [1] The kitchen was providing meal services to schools not operated by the organization, and therefore beyond the scope of their current business license. A proposed class-action lawsuit was filed against the company on behalf of those affected by the outbreak. [8]
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., often known simply as Chipotle, is an international chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos, and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer. As of June 30, 2024, Chipotle has 3,500 restaurants. Its name derives from chipotle, the Nahuatl name for a smoked and dried jalapeño chili pepper.
Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often supplied through taps, in which case it is also called tap water. Typically in developed countries, tap water meets drinking water quality standards, even though only a small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. Other typical uses for tap water include washing, toilets, and irrigation. Greywater may also be used for toilets or irrigation. Its use for irrigation however may be associated with risks.
Foodborne illness is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions, and toxins such as aflatoxins in peanuts, poisonous mushrooms, and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10 minutes.
The Walkerton E. coli outbreak was the result of a contamination of the drinking water supply of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, with E. coli and Campylobacter jejuni bacteria. The water supply was contaminated as a result of improper water treatment following heavy rainfall in late April and early May 2000, that had drawn bacteria from the manure of nearby cattle used to fertilize crops into the shallow aquifer of a nearby well. The first reported case was on May 17. The contamination caused gastroenteritis and sickened more than 2,000 people and resulted in seven deaths.
The 2006 North American E. coli outbreak was an Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak from prepackaged spinach. The outbreak occurred in September 2006, and its origin was an Angus cattle ranch that had leased land to a spinach grower. At least 276 consumer illnesses and 3 deaths have been attributed as a result from the outbreak.
Food safety is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food is known as a food-borne disease outbreak. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potential health hazards. In this way, food safety often overlaps with food defense to prevent harm to consumers. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry-to-market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering market-to-consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer. Food safety, nutrition and food security are closely related. Unhealthy food creates a cycle of disease and malnutrition that affects infants and adults as well.
Cargill Meat Solutions is a subsidiary of the Minneapolis-based multinational agribusiness giant Cargill Inc, that comprises Cargill's North American beef, turkey, food service and food distribution businesses. Cargill Meat Solutions' corporate office is located in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Jody Horner is the division's president.
XL Foods Inc. is a Canadian meat packing company. The company is a subsidiary of Nilsson Brothers Inc. based in Edmonton, Alberta. From 2009 until 2013, XL Foods' Lakeside Packers Division was located just west of Brooks, Alberta, in Newell County. This facility was the second largest beef-processing operation in Canada. During this period the company was by far the largest employer in Brooks, employing more than 2,200 people in 2012.
An outbreak of the Escherichia coli O157 bacterium occurred in South Wales in 2005. It was the largest outbreak of E. coli O157 in Wales and the second largest in the UK. 157 cases were identified in the outbreak; 31 people were hospitalized, and there was a single fatality. Most of the 157 cases identified were children, attending 44 different schools across four different local authorities – Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphily and Rhondda Cynon Taf. Of those infected, 109 cases were identified as a strain of E. coli O157 unique to this outbreak.
A novel strain of Escherichia coli O104:H4 bacteria caused a serious outbreak of foodborne illness focused in northern Germany in May through June 2011. The illness was characterized by bloody diarrhea, with a high frequency of serious complications, including hemolytic–uremic syndrome (HUS), a condition that requires urgent treatment. The outbreak was originally thought to have been caused by an enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) strain of E. coli, but it was later shown to have been caused by an enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) strain that had acquired the genes to produce Shiga toxins, present in organic fenugreek sprouts.
The 1996 Odwalla E. coli outbreak began on October 7, 1996, when American food company Odwalla produced a batch of unpasteurized apple juice using blemished fruit contaminated with the E. coli bacterium, which ultimately killed a 16-month-old girl and sickened 70 people in California, Colorado, Washington state, and British Columbia, of whom 25 were hospitalized and 14 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome. Odwalla made and marketed unpasteurized fruit juices for the health segment of the juice market.
In 2006, there were several outbreaks of foodborne illness from spinach and lettuce contaminated by E. coli O157:H7.
The 1992–1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak occurred when the Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacterium killed four children and infected 732 people across four US states. The outbreak involved 73 Jack in the Box restaurants in California, Idaho, Washington, and Nevada, and has been described as "far and away the most infamous food poison outbreak in contemporary history." The majority of the affected were under 10 years old. Four children died and 178 others were left with permanent injury including kidney and brain damage.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019. It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. Confirmed cases have been reported in all of Canada's provinces and territories.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The province of Alberta has the third-most cases of COVID-19 in Canada, behind only Ontario and Quebec.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, outbreaks of the virus took place in factories operated by the meat packing industry and the poultry processing industry. These outbreaks affected multiple plants, leading to closures of some factories and disruption of others, and posing a threat to the food supply in Canada.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta.