TIGARD, Ore. — An Oregon family has sued the Tigard-Tualatin School District after crushed industrial oven cleaner was sprinkled on pretzels served to sixth graders, Portland station KPTV reported via Gray News.
The incident happened Oct. 20, 2025, at Fowler Middle School, where about 37 pretzels were coated with a concentrated oven cleaner containing sodium hydroxide. District records show more than 50 students ate some or all of the pretzels. The district called it human error, saying a kitchen worker mistook the cleaner for salt, and police did not file charges.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 9, names the district, the lead kitchen worker and the school’s principal and seeks up to $950,220.85. The family’s son, identified as L.L., says his mouth and throat burned immediately and he later had chest and stomach pain.
The complaint alleges Poison Control wasn’t called until about 27 minutes after staff realized the mistake, that families weren’t emailed for nearly two hours, and that the boy was held in a room for about an hour without his parents being notified. It also says the district never interviewed a substitute kitchen worker who first discovered the packet was labeled “oven cleaner.”
Sources: Arizona’s Family. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: M.O. Stevens / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
