Some students at a school in Oregon were fed toxic materials in their food at lunch. This shocking revelation came after the district confessed that there was a very unfortunate and dangerous mix-up that could have left the students seriously ill or worse. This week, Fowler Middle School admitted that they served soft pretzels to multiple sixth graders that had oven cleaner sprinkled on them instead of salt.
Earlier this month, the Oregon middle school reportedly served 37 soft pretzels that were coated with broken-up oven cleaner tablets. After it was discovered that the students were given the hazardous material in their food, the school identified the students who ingested the oven cleaner and made sure they were checked for illness and reactions.
“We understand that today’s food incident created significant alarm within our school community. The safety and health of our students is our top priority, and we want to reassure you that protocols were followed to immediately identify the students who ate the pretzels and check for illness or adverse reactions,” Fowler Middle School Principal Cindy Pellici said in an email, per KOIN 6.
Oregon School Serves Students Pretzels Sprinkled With Oven Cleaner
The CDC reports that chemicals found in oven cleaner, such as sodium hydroxide, can cause symptoms such as vomiting, chest and abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing, drooling, injury to the mouth and organs, or hemorrhaging of the intestinal tract (via People Magazine).
A parent of one of the Oregon students shared her thoughts on the shocking situation. Mother Kaylee Spiering shared how it all happened.
“How they put it was they were crushing up the oven cleaning tablets. After they crushed it up, they put it into a bag,” she said, revealing her child was one of the kids who ate the pretzels. “That bag was left on the counter, and someone mistook it for salt to put on the pretzels.”
The internet was stunned to hear the news, and took to the comments section of TikTok to share their thoughts on the matter.
“I’d be suing so hard,” one person commented. “That’s not a simple mistake… you can smell oven cleaner,” another stated. “And this is why Students need access to their Phones to be able to directly call Parents in an Emergency, even if it’s just a tummy ache. Schools want to prevent Students from calling Parents for help,” a third person wrote. “No way this is a mistake,” a fourth comment read.
This Oregon school mistake could have ended much differently. Thankfully, the students are okay. However, the parents can’t be happy about this horrifying mistake.
