Daycare Caterer Closes Down

In the last year Whole Green Kids, owned and operated by Susan Blouin, has been kicked out of kitchen after kitchen for their inability to pay their rent. The catering company, which claimed to provide organic, kosher, halal and allergy-conscious foods to daycares across Toronto and in Ottawa, has now shut its doors after  investigations proved their dishonest, unsafe and in some cases illegal work practices.

Rewrapping no-name ingredients and labeling them organic was not an-out-of-the-ordinary instruction given by Blouin. Buying “kosher” products from Italian and Portuguese butchers was also not unheard of. Transporting meat products for hours without being kept in a cooler, serving undercooked chicken, skimping on portion sizes, being careless about allergies and cooking out of her home are just some of the other accusations made about Blouin’s company and which have now forced her to close her business.

Whole Green Kids was in business from 2009 and gained clients based on their promise to deliver natural, organic meals to daycares for $3.70 per child, per day.

Accusations were increasingly serious as the blame was shifted from Blouin to her staff members. Blouin claimed that her employees tried to sabotage her by sprinkling peanuts around the kitchen, putting some children’s lives at risk. Regardless of who was at fault, Blouin admitted

To add insult to injury, Blouin has been living a life of luxury while she deceives and potentially endangers young children. She rents a 2.2 million dollar home with her husband and they both drive Porsches. This fact might be even harder to swallow than the food she cooks!

Hopefully, however, her lavish lifestyle will come to an end now that, according to a follow up article in the Toronto Star, Whole Green Kids has officially shut down. Blouin does not appear to be catering out of her home and inspectors have not found her operating anywhere else in the GTA. She has been warned that, should she reopen her business anywhere in Ontario, that she is required to notify the public health department in that jurisdiction. Toronto Public Health authorities have also notified public health offices around the province to keep them apprised if Whole Green Kids sets up shop anywhere in their jurisdiction.

While readers seem to unanimously agree that Blouin deserves the lion’s share of the blame, debate has still erupted online. Some wonder how much the blame should be shared between the daycare operators and the parents of the children eating the food. Many are arguing that the daycare operators should have considered and inspected their catering choice much more carefully (especially since $3.70 is far too good a deal for two organic snacks and an organic, healthy, hot meal for every child). Parents are being critiqued as well for not looking into exactly what their children are being served at daycare.

What do you think? How careful are you about inspecting your children’s daycare meals? How careful will you be now?

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