An Oregon family is suing a school district after a cafeteria worker allegedly served middle school students pretzels coated with powdered oven cleaner, leaving one sixth-grader with burning in his mouth and throat, chest pain and an upset stomach.
A parent identified only as K.L. filed the lawsuit on behalf of their son, a sixth-grader at Fowler Middle School in Tigard. The lawsuit alleges that a cafeteria worker mistakenly sprinkled crushed oven-cleaner powder on pretzels served to students on Oct. 20, 2025.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 11 in Washington County Circuit Court, names Tigard-Tualatin School District 23J, the school's principal and a lead cook as defendants.
The school district investigated the incident and determined students ate the contaminated
pretzels as "the result of human error" and that it was "unintentional," according to the lawsuit.
When contacted by USA TODAY on Oct. 26, the district declined to comment, citing pending litigation. The district confirmed the lead cook remains employed but did not say in what capacity.
Tigard police said Oct. 27 that no charges have been filed.
Here's what we know.
More than 50 students may have eaten contaminated pretzels
Cafeteria staff served 37 pretzels during the lunch period, but the lawsuit alleges more than 50 students may have eaten portions of them.
The plaintiff's son went to lunch around 10:36 a.m. and ate the pretzels, according to the lawsuit. He then experienced a burning sensation in his mouth and throat, tingling in his lips, chest pain and mild stomach upset.
About 27 minutes after the pretzels were served and school employees realized what had happened, someone at the school contacted Poison Control, the lawsuit says. The district subsequently alerted families.
About an hour and 47 minutes after students ate the pretzels, the district emailed Fowler Middle School families saying "that 37 pretzels were seasoned with oven cleaner and consumed by students," according to the lawsuit.
Poison Control advised the school to have students rinse their mouths with water and eat other food, the lawsuit says. Nursing staff also monitored students.
But the filing alleges the district's initial email did not identify which students had eaten the contaminated pretzels.
The plaintiff says they learned their son was involved only after calling the district, more than two hours after he ate the pretzels. The school later told the parent that the student had shown no symptoms and had been sent back to class, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, however, alleges the boy was kept in a room for "a lengthy period of time" and reported stomach pain and a sore throat to school employees. His family alleges the district neither contacted them nor allowed the boy to do so.
His symptoms continued for at least another day, according to the lawsuit. His family also alleges the incident caused emotional trauma and left him concerned about his safety at school and distrustful of school officials and staff.
Kitchen worker told police lead cook hesitated to stop students, lawsuit says
Two days after the incident, a substitute kitchen worker went to Tigard police and described what she said she witnessed, according to the lawsuit.
The substitute worker told police that the lead cook appeared reluctant to stop students from eating the pretzels. The witness said she tasted the pretzels herself and then told students to stop eating them, according to the filing.
The lawsuit alleges that after realizing what had happened, the lead cook threw away the oven-cleaner packaging and initially denied doing so. The filing further alleges that she attempted to crush the package to conceal it from school administrators and later told them it contained soap.
According to the lawsuit, the lead cook, who had 17 years of food-service experience, told police she had been in a hurry and intended to put salt on the pretzels. She also allegedly told police she planned to use the oven cleaner on the school's commercial steamer, despite the product not being intended for that appliance, and had accidentally left it in the food-preparation area.
Lawsuit says oven-cleaner packaging carried prominent warnings
The oven cleaner identified in the lawsuit was sold as an individually packaged puck designed for ovens equipped with tablet-cleaning systems.
According to the lawsuit, the product should not be crushed, ground or granulated because doing so creates a powder that can spread easily and adhere to surfaces. The filing also says the cleaner was not intended for use on other kitchen appliances.
The product's container warned that it could form "combustible dust," should not be swallowed, causes "severe skin burns and eye damage" and can cause "severe damage to the respiratory tract," according to the lawsuit.
Individual packages also displayed the word "DANGER" and red warning symbols, the filing says. The lawsuit alleges the school was supposed to store the cleaner separately from food and food-preparation areas.
The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and $950,220.85 in damages.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s trending team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Middle school served kids oven cleaner on pretzels: lawsuit
