Death of worker in Edmonton smokehouse leads to 26 charges against food processing company

The Lilydale Foods Office in Edmonton as seen on Google Street View in November 2020. According to the Sofina Foods Inc. website, Lilydale is one of its branded products.

An Ontario-based food processing company is facing 26 charges under Alberta Occupational Health and Safety legislation in connection with the death of a worker at an Edmonton facility in 2023.

The victim, who was a plant supervisor at Sofina Foods Inc., left their workstation on March 2, 2023, to check the temperature of a cooking program in a smokehouse.

According to the charges, they became trapped in the smokehouse and were later found by another worker.

The plant supervisor died of injuries sustained as a result of being trapped in the smokehouse, OHS said.

Sofina Foods Inc. is charged with failing to ensure the door of the smokehouse could be opened from the inside and for failing to ensure its employee was adequately trained to perform their work in a healthy and safe manner.

None of the charges have been tested in court.