Mass Illness at Bihar School Traced to Detergent in Lunch

More than twenty pupils from Parsai Middle School in the Nur Sarai police‑station area of Patna became ill after the mid‑day meal on August 19. The culprit was a kitchen error: the cook, trying to compensate for a reported shortage of salt, inadvertently poured detergent powder into the rice and soybean preparation.

Within minutes of eating, the children suffered vomiting and dizziness. The school’s principal, Shailendra Kumar Singh, organised immediate medical care and later transferred the sick students to Bihar Sharif Sadar Hospital.

At the hospital, civil surgeon Dr. Jaiprakash Singh confirmed that the children are now stable, but parents complained about inadequate ambulance services and overcrowded beds, with multiple girls sharing a single berth. The delay forced many families to arrange private transport.

This case underscores gaps in food‑safety monitoring for the government’s Mid‑Day Meal Scheme and highlights the need for faster emergency medical response in schools.