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.
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.