A lawsuit alleges that more than 50 middle school students in Oregon received pretzels flavored with crushed oven cleaner.
A family is suing the Tigard-Tualatin School District for $1 million after their child became sick while eating a snack during lunch at Fowler Middle School in October 2025, according to court documents obtained by KPTV.
That day, dozens of sixth-graders received 37 pretzels coated with crushed Alto-Sham oven cleaner for lunch, according to the indictment, which also names lead kitchen worker and Fowler Middle School Principal Cindy Pellicci as defendants.
According to the outlet, a student named LL immediately felt a burning sensation in his mouth and throat after eating pretzels laced with a corrosive chemical cleaner that contained highly corrosive sodium hydroxide.
LL was kept in the room for about an hour without his parents being informed of the possible poisoning, and was sent back to class after staff claimed he was asymptomatic, the lawsuit states.
But his mother said her son came home with a sore throat and stomachache from eating snacks containing oven cleaner. He also suffered from lingering anxiety about eating at school, she said.
The botched snack was discovered when backup kitchen worker Chloe Larson tasted the seasoning, felt a burning sensation and discovered the discarded packet was being used as seasoning, then forced the lead kitchen worker to reveal it was labeled oven cleaner, documents state.
The complaint adds that staff allegedly contacted the poison control center about 27 minutes after realizing what happened, and the school sent an email to parents about the incident two hours later.
The school district determined the pretzels were seasoned with oven cleaner due to “human error,” and police closed their investigation into the incident when they were unable to determine probable cause, the outlet reported.
The kitchen leader reportedly first described the seasoning to management as “soap” and explained how the toxic mixture came about, including that she was in a hurry and had previously crushed the detergent for use in the steamer but failed to set it aside.
The lawsuit alleges the district failed to properly store caustic chemicals away from food, failed to train employees and allowed crushed detergent to be left on prep counters, the outlet said.
The Tigard-Tualatin School District told the outlet it could not comment on pending litigation but said the kitchen director still works for the district.
The school district did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.