Photo Courtesy of Glacier Valley Elementary School website
An incident at an Alaska elementary school left students with burning mouths and throats after being served floor sealant instead of milk for breakfast.
The incident occurred at Sit Eeti Shaanax Glacier Valley Elementary School in Alaska on Tuesday morning. A dozen children and two adults each ingested up to 3oz of Seal 341 floor sealant in place of milk at the Juneau School districts RALLY summer childcare program.
The mix-up was discovered after students complained of burning sensations in their mouths and throats. Some students even reported headaches and nausea after ingesting the hazardous chemicals.
Staff immediately directed students to stop consuming the substance. According to a statement released by the school district, “the RALLY site manager immediately contacted poison control for instructions, which included drinking water and getting medical attention if any discomfort continued.”
Juneau police are investigating the mix-up. Superintendent Bridget Weiss told the Associated Press that officers do not believe the mix-up had criminal intentions.
“But we do want a thorough investigation of what happened, how it happened,” Weiss said.
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According to a statement from the school, “In the spring of 2021, one pallet of floor sealant was mistakenly delivered to a JSD food commodity warehouse at the same time as four pallets of shelf stable milk. This warehouse is reserved for food items only for JSD. The pallet of floor sealant remained untouched in storage with other food products until this week when NMS ran short on milk and sent staff to retrieve shelf-stable milk.”
The statement continued, “On June 14, NMS picked up three boxes of floor sealant from the warehouse and one delivered to the NMS food worker at the RALLY program located at Sitʼ Eeti Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley Elementary School. The NMS worker took the box of floor sealant and poured its contents into cups to be served at breakfast. Breakfast was prepared by NMS staff and placed on food service trays, which students brought to a cafeteria table to eat.”
All children involved are recovering and should full recover soon.