Dr. Mark Joffe, Chief Medical Officer for the Province of Alberta, announced that health officials were unable to specify the vehicle of infection in a widespread case of food-borne infection in day-care centers. The Calgary outbreak resulted in 351 laboratory confirmed primary cases of E coli infection and 37 confirmed secondary cases during late August into early September 2023. 

The investigation identified a shared kitchen as the source of the outbreak. This location supplied eleven day-care centers of which five were impacted.  The investigation was unable to differentiate between a meatloaf and a vegan meal as the potentially contaminated product, since there was no residual material available for microbiological assay.  The shared kitchen remains closed and the catering company and a school-lunch delivery service that operated without an appropriate license have ceased operation and are now subject to criminal investigation and civil claims.