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Four Local High School Students Sickened Friday (Spokane milk incident)

Spokane – Four local high school students were sickened Friday morning after drinking milk that may have been curdled. The milk was distributed at a school cafeteria during breakfast. The students were medically evaluated and released later that day. No other cases of similar illness have been reported to the Health District.

School officials notified the Spokane Regional Health District of the incident, and food inspectors from the Health District and the Washington State Department of Agriculture immediately investigated.

Inland Northwest Dairy laboratory obtained two cartons of milk for testing, one of which was opened at the cafeteria and found to be sour, while the other underwent laboratory testing. Results returned today indicated that there was nothing in the tested milk that would cause illness, said Linda Wetzel, Quality Assurance Manager for the dairy.

“It’s always a concern when several students become ill at the same time,” said Dorothy MacEachern, epidemiologist for the Spokane Regional Health District. “We take such incidents seriously and investigate to determine the cause of the illness. In this case, it looks like students drank sour milk, which can make a person vomit but is not a long-lasting health concern.”

The Health District is continuing to investigate the handling procedures of the milk at the school, while the Department of Agriculture is looking into handling procedures in the supply chain.

Spokane Public Schools has pulled and discarded all the white milk cartons district-wide with the same pull date as the sour milk, said Terren Roloff, Community Relations Director for Spokane Public Schools.

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