ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A dozen children and two adults were served a floor sealer instead of milk in a summer nursery program at an Alaska elementary school after the containers were apparently mixed. , said the school district superintendent on Wednesday.
Several students complained of burning sensations in their mouths and throats, and at least one child was treated at a hospital after the incident on Tuesday morning in Juneau, Superintendent Bridget Weiss said.
Juneau police are leading the investigation into how the confusion occurred, “not really because we believe there is anything criminal or wrong at this time, but we want a thorough investigation into what happened, how it happened and are trained investigators. “Weiss said.
The incident occurred while students at the Sitʼ Eeti Shaanáx̱-Glacier Valley Elementary daycare program in the Alaska capital were being served breakfast. The program is aimed at boys and girls from 5 to 12 years.
All food, including milk from a dispenser, was provided by a contractor and served by staff. Breakfast items were placed on trays, which the students brought to the tables for eating.
Soon after, the children began to complain that the milk tasted bad and caused a burning sensation in their mouth and throat.
After school district and contract staff looked at the container label, it was discovered that the clear plastic milk bag that had been placed in the dispenser was actually a floor sealer that resembled milk.
Poison control officials and parents were contacted. Two of the children who were picked up by their parents may have sought medical advice, the district said.
Weiss said milk and the floor sealant, which is also a milky, white substance, come in large plastic bags that are stored inside cardboard boxes. For milk, the bag is taken out of the box and placed inside the dispenser to serve with meals instead of in cartons.
Both the milk and the sealer were stored in an off-campus district commodity storage location.
Weiss said that somehow, the boxes with sealer in big bags “were stored or moved on the same pallet as the big milk bags that were also in cardboard boxes.”
“We don’t know how that happened, but they all got on the same pallet,” he said. “That pallet was delivered and it was supposed to be milk because that’s what we thought was being delivered.”
Part of the research will be to determine why food was stored in the same building as chemicals.
There was no odor or chemical odor on the sealant, but school rules dictate that any chemical used must have a low risk of ingestion.
“That was true when it came to the sealer, so our students are fine,” he said. A couple of children were still upset on Tuesday evening, but many others were fine, he said.
The sealer was removed and placed in chemical storage, and the school district had a state food inspector on site Wednesday morning to verify that all proper protocols were in place.
“We’re up and running today,” he said.