More than 110 children fell sick with stomach pain and vomiting after eating their regular midday meal at a private school in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The incident took place on Saturday, June 20, at Shishukunj International School's Jhalaria campus on Bypass Road, where students from Class 1 to Class 5 were served the school's standard lunch. Symptoms began surfacing the same Saturday evening, and the number of affected children continued to grow through Sunday.
Parents' Complaints Prompt District-Level Probe
After parents raised the alarm with district authorities about their children's worsening health, officials constituted an inspection team on Monday and sent them straight to the school's kitchen. The team examined food items and prepared dishes at the Jhalaria campus kitchen and collected a total of 23 samples of ingredients and cooked food, all of which were dispatched to a laboratory for analysis. The inspection also brought several other irregularities to light.
Expired Spice and Snack Packets Recovered from Kitchen
Among the violations uncovered, the inspection team found 10 packets of spices and 2 packets of namkeen (savory snacks) that had already crossed their expiry dates. Citing these findings along with other discrepancies, authorities sealed the school's kitchen until further orders.
110 Children Affected; No Hospitalisations Yet
SDM Deepak Chauhan confirmed that complaints of stomach pain and vomiting began emerging among students from Saturday evening, with more children reporting similar symptoms through Sunday, pushing the total number of affected students to around 110. Parents told officials that several children had been taken to doctors after their condition deteriorated. Chauhan noted that no child has required hospitalisation as of now. He added that any further course of action in the matter will be decided only after the laboratory reports on the collected samples are received.
