Students served pretzels covered in oven cleaner, lawsuit claims

A family in Oregon has filed a lawsuit against their child’s school district after he, as well as dozens of other students, was allegedly served pretzels covered in oven cleaner. 

Over 50 students served contaminated pretzels

Dig deeper:

The parent of a sixth-grade boy at Fowler Middle School in Tigard, filed the lawsuit last month.

The lawsuit alleged that on Oct. 20, 2025, the lead cafeteria worker mistakenly seasoned dozens of pretzels with crushed Alto-Sham, a concentrated oven cleaner that contains industrial chemicals, including sodium hydroxide, according to a KPTV report. 

About 37 pretzels were served during the sixth grade lunch period and more than 50 students ate portions of them. 

The victim at the center of the lawsuit began to feel burning in his mouth and throat after eating the pretzel, along with chest pain, and an upset stomach.

Substitute worker discovered the mistake

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The lawsuit claimed that the head cook crushed the oven cleaner tablet and left it out in the food preparation area. 

When another substitute cafeteria worker noticed the contaminated pretzels, the head cook reportedly tried to say it was just soap and threw the oven cleaner wrapper away. 

Although the school district claimed this was an honest mistake by an employee who was in a rush, a coworker told police that the oven cleaner powder looked very different from regular salt. The complaint stated the cleaner should never have been crushed or kept anywhere near food.

After the incident, the lawsuit claimed the school handled the situation very poorly. 

Instead of immediately calling parents or letting the student call home, staff kept the boy in a separate room for about an hour to examine him. 

When the school finally called his mother about two hours later, they claimed he did not have any symptoms and sent him back to class, even though the boy had already told staff his throat and stomach hurt. Because of these delays and misleading statements, the family could not take him to a doctor right away to treat the chemical burns.

What they're saying:

The school district named in the lawsuit said they could not comment on the pending litigation at this time. 

Nearly $1 million sought in lawsuit

What's next:

The student’s family is seeking $950,220.85 in damages.

The Source: Information for this article was taken from reporting by KPTV and the civil complaint filed by the family on Sept. 11, 2026. This story was reported from San Jose.