More than 40 schoolchildren in India were hospitalized after accidentally adding washing powder to school lunches

When a school in Nalanda County, Bihar, India was serving nutritious lunches on the 18th, the chef mistakenly mistook washing powder for salt and added it to the soybean rice eaten by the students. After eating it, schoolchildren began to develop symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting and abdominal pain, and eventually more than 40 people were rushed to the hospital.

According to the "Hindustan Times" report, the nutritious lunch at the school on the day of the incident was provided by the "School Lunch Project" sponsored by an NGO. The dish was soybean rice. After eating, some students thought the meal was too bland, so they reported to the kitchen that they wanted to add more salt. Unexpectedly, when the chef was seasoning the meal, he mistakenly used the washing powder placed near the salt and added it to the meal.

This batch of lunches was supplied to 132 students that day. It is worth noting that before the meals were served, two chefs and two teachers had originally tried them out to confirm, but the problem was still not discovered in time to prevent the meals from being eaten by the students. Soon after, many students began to experience symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, and abdominal pain. The school initially conducted preliminary treatment at the school, but the symptoms of 40 students did not improve and were subsequently transferred to the hospital for further examination and treatment.

Nalanda District Health Officer Jay Prakash Singh said that all the medical students are currently in stable condition and their lives are not in danger. Minister of Rural Development Shravan Kumar also personally visited the children in the hospital and emphasized that the management of meal preparation and meal serving procedures would be reviewed and the relevant personnel's negligence would be investigated.