The results of a recently-released report into the largest-ever outbreak of E. coli at child-care facilities in Alberta highlights the need for officials at all levels and in all capacities to put the health and well-being of young Albertans first.
Whether the report will prompt meaningful improvement to the child-care food safety system remains an open question. What is clear is that preventing future disease outbreaks at daycares in the province should and must be everyone’s top priority going forward.
More than three dozen children were hospitalized during the outbreak last fall, and while there were no fatalities, several children were very seriously sickened.
The multi-stakeholder Food Safety and Licensed Facility-Based Child Care Review Panel conducted a seven-month review into the outbreak, issuing 12 primary recommendations and more than two dozen sub-recommendations.
The recommendations centre around three primary themes: fostering a culture of food safety that supports high-quality, safe and healthy learning environments for children; system alignment and integration; and public policy, legislation and inspection systems for food safety.
For her part, Premier Danielle Smith says her government will act on the recommendations.
“The review panel we set in place has done important work to review the overall outbreak situation to provide recommendations to prevent a similar outbreak from happening,” said Smith. “It’s our government’s intention to act on every recommendation we can to protect children’s safety and to restore trust in the system.”
Diana Batten, official Opposition critic for childcare and family services, said, “The UCP government allowed the well-being of children and staff at these daycares to be at risk by not addressing critical health violations.
“It is still uncertain where public health will fall in Danielle Smith’s dismantling of Alberta Health Services making the path forward (on recommendations) unclear.”
Premier Smith has said publicly that her government will act on the panel’s recommendations. Albertans, including parents and grandparents in this district, will be watching very closely to see whether she keeps her promise on this vital public health matter.
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan.
