More than 20 children fall ill after eating school lunch

More than 20 students have taken ill in the southern Indian state of Telangana after eating school lunch, the latest case of contamination in the government’s ambitious free mid-day meal programme.

The students were hospitalised on Thursday after complaining of symptoms consistent with suspected food poisoning like stomach pain, vomiting, and nausea.

The incident occurred at the Mandal Parishad Primary School in Venkatapur village in Sangareddy district where staff allegedly reheated leftover food from a local function and served it as the midday meal, Telangana Today reported.

At least 42 children ate the food and 22 fell ill, requiring treatment at the Narayankhed Government Hospital.

“Some 22 students were hospitalised after consuming sambar and rice this afternoon," a Narayanked police official was quoted as saying by the local broadcaster NDTV. “They experienced symptoms like stomach pain and were immediately shifted to hospital for treatment.”

Authorities have launched an investigation and a staff member involved in making lunch at the school has been removed from the position.

The District Educational Officer issued a show cause notice to the principal over his alleged lack of supervision of the midday meal preparation.

This is the latest case of contamination of food served under the Indian government’s midmeal scheme, one of the largest free-food-in-school programmes in the world. The scheme provides free lunch to children in government schools to improve nutritional levels, increase enrolment and reduce dropout rates.

The programme supplies cooked meals to 120 million children in more than a million schools across the country.

In 2022, India reported as many as 979 victims of food poisoning in schools, according to data from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme and media reports.

In 2025, the human rights commission launched an inquiry into reports that more than 100 children had taken ill after eating a school lunch contaminated by a dead snake. Nearly 500 children had consumed the midday meal at the Mokama village’s school near Patna in eastern Bihar state on 24 April.

A similar case emerged in Indonesia last year when more than 5,000 school children fell ill after eating free school lunches. The food was given under president Prabowo Subianto’s programme to provide free nutritious meals to 80 million school children.