A suspected insecticide tainted school lunch meal has killed at least 22 children in India, and sickened another 35, officials said Wednesday. The 22 dead children were said to be between the ages of eight and 11. They became ill after eating a school lunch meal of rice and lentils in Masrakh village, in the Saran district yesterday, according to Sky News on Wednesday, July 17.
It’s not yet known how the chemicals ended up in the food in a school in the eastern state of Bihar. One official said it’s possible the food may not have been properly washed before it was cooked.
Masrakh is in one of the poorest states in the country, and is also quite remote. The lack of proper medical facilities added to the tragedy. The lunch meal was cooked in the school’s kitchen, and police said the cook and her two children also died.
USA Today reports that school authorities immediately stopped serving the meal of rice, lentils, soybeans and potatoes as soon as they noticed children vomiting.
Preliminary investigations suggest the food contained an “organophosphate”, used as an insecticide on rice and wheat crops. The free meals program was started to entice the impoverished to send their children to school.
The lunches are hugely popular with poor families, and educators view the meals as not only a way of increasing school attendance but also of battling malnourishment.
