Thirty-four children fell ill after eating the mid-day meal at a government school in Noorsarai block in Bihar’s Nalanda district on Tuesday. The school headmaster said the incident occurred after the cook mistakenly offered detergent powder to students who had asked for extra salt.

According to a Nalanda district official, 17 girls and as many boys of Middle School, Parasi, were taken to Biharsharif Sadar Hospital after developing health problems following the meal. All of them are healthy and out of danger after receiving treatment, the district administration said.

In a video, the school’s headmaster, Shailendra Kumar Singh, is seen telling local reporters that the meal, supplied through an NGO, comprised rice and soybean-potato curry as per the prescribed menu.

How it started

The headmaster said the school serves the meal in multiple sittings. “During the second sitting, a student, identified as the granddaughter of a school cook, reportedly asked for additional salt. The cook allegedly picked up detergent powder instead of salt by mistake and added it to the girl’s food,” he is heard saying in a video. “Seeing the cook serving food only to her granddaughter, other students also demanded extra salt and ended up getting the same detergent powder. Soon, some students started complaining about pain in the throat and stomach after which we found out about the issue,” he added.

The school management initially gave the affected children warm salt water to help ease the symptoms before taking them to hospital. They were first taken to the Dental College at Bhagan Bigha and later referred to Biharsharif Sadar Hospital for further treatment.

Meanwhile, the district official said the children were examined by doctors and their condition was stable.

They said that the meal had been supplied by Ekta Shakti Foundation through its centralised kitchen at Ramghat, Nagarnausa. “Before serving, two cooks and two teachers at the school had eaten the food. The meal was then served to all 132 students at 12.30 pm. Of them, 34 children were admitted to Sadar Hospital at about 2.15 pm after reporting health problems,” an official said.

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The foundation’s centralised kitchen supplies mid-day meals daily to about 23,000 children in 206 schools across Chandi, Nagarnausa and Noorsarai blocks, the district official said.

Officials said they would get samples of the meal examined. Meanwhile, officials from the education department and local administration reached the hospital where the children were admitted. Bihar Minister Shravan Kumar also visited Sadar Hospital, met the children and directed doctors to ensure proper treatment.

The district administration said doctors found all the children healthy and out of danger, with no adverse health effects detected at the time of assessment.

No FIR or complaint has been registered in the case yet.