Food company pleads guilty in Edmonton smokehouse death, judge weighs penalty

Judges bench at the Edmonton Law Courts building, in Edmonton on June 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

A commercial food processing company pleaded guilty Wednesday to a workplace safety charge after an Edmonton worker became trapped in a smokehouse and died.

The Crown recommended Ontario-based Sofina Foods Inc. be ordered to pay a $330,000 penalty to fund a workplace training program. The prosecutor also asked for 25 other charges against the company to be withdrawn.

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A judge is to rule on a sentence Thursday.

Sofina Foods was charged after 32-year-old Samir Subedi died in March 2023.

Court heard he had gone to check the temperature of the gas-fired smokehouse, which had been loaded the night before with meat.

An emergency handle inside the unit was broken. A makeshift door stopper on the outside had been installed but had to be engaged before entry.

Court heard a temperature probe in the smokehouse had a reading of 92 C.

Subedi was found by a co-worker and later died due to heat exposure.

Prosecutor Hendrik Kruger told the sentencing hearing that the company had a comprehensive safety system in place but failed to monitor compliance and to provide proper training for the door.

“The incident was entirely preventable,” Kruger said.

Following Subedi’s death, court heard the company paid his family’s mortgage and made an arrangement to continue their health and dental coverage. Including other benefits, the company spent about $500,000 on the family.

In a victim impact statement read by Kruger, Subedi’s widow, Bhumika, said she gave up her dream of nursing after he died and has anxiety attacks whenever she thinks about hospitals.

“I have been through periods of intense grief and emotion,” the statement said.

The mother of a two-year-old and a three-year-old said the children keep asking: “Where is Daddy?”

“I burst into tears whenever I think of him,” she said.

A statement from the man’s younger brother, Sabir Subedi, also read by Kruger, said they both had dreams of a better future for their families, but those dreams were lost.

Children who lose their father lose the hope and security of home, he said.

“There is no price for that.”

Loretta Bouwmeester, the lawyer representing Sofina Foods, said the company had a comprehensive safety management system, but there were “gaps” in implementation, which had “the most serious consequence that can happen in the workplace.”

The benefit of not having a mortgage payment can be material to a family, she added, and speak to the remorse of the company.

However, “no amount of money will ever have the effect of replacing a father and a husband,” she said.

Sofina Foods previously said it had co-operated fully with the province’s investigation and called the death a “deeply saddening accident.”

“Our people are the heart of our business. And our plant superintendent, Samir, was an important part of our Sofina family,” it said in a statement in November.

“His passing profoundly affected his family, our team and our community. We continue to be concerned for them and their well-being.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.

This is a corrected story. A previous version said the sentencing decision was expected Friday.

By Lisa Johnson

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.