More than 50 middle school students in Oregon were fed pretzels that were seasoned with crushed oven cleaner last fall, according to a newly filed lawsuit.
About 37 pretzels coated with Alto-Cham concentrated oven cleaner — an industrial-strength caustic chemical made with sodium hydroxide — were served during sixth-grade lunch at Fowler Middle School in Tigard, a suburb of Portland, on October 20, 2025, according to a nearly $1 million lawsuit filed last month.
More than 50 students ate all or part of the impacted pretzels, according to Tigard-Tualatin School District records obtained by Fox 12.
What on earth was the lye stored in that it could possibly be mistaken for salt in a kitchen? Why was it not kept in a location with hazard labels like other industrial cleaners?
Not in the US but I’ve seen this done in many quasi-industrial environments (incl schools).
Material is bought bulk, because it’s cheaper to buy cleaning solution or raw materials 5-10kg a time than buying 100x 50-100g small containers, then it’s used to fill up existing containers - many which often lack any kind of labeling, at most, a Sharpie scribble on it.
Then someone simply leaves the container in the kitchen by accident. Another person finds it and puts it somewhere. A third one comes in, thinks it’s something else (because why would someone leave industrial cleaner on the spice rack?) and uses it accordingly.
In my high school, a single tired front office worker (security guard, attendant, etc.) nearly killed half the teachers because he prepared the coffee from a container of rat poison (I think it was rat poison?), because a cleaner dropped off a container of it right next to the sugar container (because of course an unlabelled plastic bottle of white crystals needs to go right next to the sugar and creamer???), because the exterminator who came over the weekend, left said container right next to a radiator… and the exterminator used the same kind of plastic bottle “salt shaker” the kitchen used for salt, sugar, etc.).
Thanks now I will be eating at home for the rest of my life forever
I doubt it was mistaken.
Sodium hydroxide is the main component in lye, which is used to make pretzels.
It is also the main incredient in oven cleaner.
To not know the difference between sodium chloride and sodium hydroxide is wild. Those poor kiddos.
Kids these days are so spoiled with their designer sodium compounds. In my day we seasoned our food with elemental sodium and we were grateful (for a very short period).
The explosion was the best part
It was like PopRocks, but better.
Most people say sodium is salt , our kitchen workers are under educated because pay is so low
I mean if some dumbass put this in a non labeled container and put it next to where they were making pretzels, the standard cafeteria person is going to ask themself, is that salt or sugar, and then say… That’s not sugar. And I’ve gotten pretzels before that have salt packets shipped with them, and the salt does not look like granulated salt you use as table salt. So if you are in a rush (say enough so that you have to have called in a substitute like said scenario) I could understand someone mistaking it.
The fault is on whomever removed the substance from a clearly labeled container, and then again on whomever left it in the kitchen next to the oven which the pretzels were presumed baked in.
That and I believe the lye used in pretzels and other foods like lutefisk has to be food grade. I make soap so I use lye quite regularly, but to mistake it for salt when it looks NOTHING LIKE IT is a very special kind of incompetent. My god if I were one of the parents I would be inconsolably angry, that’s so fucking dangerous!
The sodium hydroxide used to clean ovens can be food grade as well. The storing it not in extremely obvious labeled containers is what likely got an understaffed(having subs) kitchen in trouble here.
Is it as delicious as it looks?
That made it a bit confusing but it doesn’t seem to be actual lye or related to actually making pretzels, it wasn’t like they used lye leftover from pretzel making as topping.
The school district said the tainted pretzels were the result of “human error,” and that a kitchen worker thought the chemical cleaner was salt. Tigard Police reviewed the case last year, but did not file criminal charges.
The student at the center of the lawsuit, identified as L.L., ate one of the tainted pretzels and immediately felt burning in his mouth and throat, as well as chest pain and an upset stomach, according to the report.
I’m not overall a fan of wearing gloves when cooking, but rather I rely on handwashing (because gloves need to be changed every time you’d otherwise need to wash your hands anyways and nobody has good gloves habits in kitchens).
Using fingers to sprinkle the “salt” would give pretty immediate feedback to the cook.
I can’t imagine all the bad stuff that would happen eating lye. awful.
Opened this wondering….
Where in America did this happen?
That’s usually the right question to ask
Wtf
A million buck$ isn’t nearly enough. They should be suing for BILLION$.
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