In Juneau, Alaska, elementary students at Sitʼ Eeti Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley Elementary School were served drinks presumed to be milk. However, after students complained about the milk's flavor, staff realized that the students were served floor sealant instead of milk by a company called the NANA Management Services. The floor sealant was milky white in appearance, which explained why it was not disposed of beforehand.
The Juneau school district, the NANA Management Services, the Junea Police Department, and the City and Borough of Juneau decided to investigate this matter. Twelve students drank the milk, and of the twelve, two were sent home, and one needed medical attention.
According to the school district, "Staff immediately directed students to stop consuming the substance and removed it," so it appears as if not many students were affected by the sealant, and the company that produced the sealant wrote a safety precaution for its product, stating that the sealant should be washed off with soap and water if it contacts skin and water should be drunk if the sealant is ingested, so there is still a possibility that the impact of the sealant can be neutralized. Everyone is still human, and this could have been accidental, but since some students rely on school meals, a student needed medical attention, and two had to be sent home, giving this situation a mere cursory glance is not prudent.
The floor sealant resembled liquid milk, so finding a way to make milk characteristically recognizable may prevent situations like this one. Bridget Weiss, the superintendent of the school district, stated that the milk and the sealant were both stored in boxes containing pouches of each liquid. Since both liquids were stored in pouches, this may explain why there could have been a mix up between the milk and the sealant--the packaging. To solve this, schools can take the simple but actionable step of purchasing milk with distinguishable packaging and labeling. In my elementary school, for instance, the milk was shipped by a company in miniature cartons, so instead of having to dispense milk out of pouches, students would just take a carton from the drink bar. The milk cartons were rectangular, and they were actually labeled as "Milk." Like with any other product, the milk cartons my school served contained the company's name, the nutrition facts, and even a picture of a cow, so it was very self-evident that milk was being served, due to its shape and labeling.
There is also the possibility of getting food and drink shipped separately from items. The superintendent admitted that the milk and the floor sealant was placed on the same pallet. Since they were shipped in the same transportation vessel, it was only more probable for the floor sealant to be mistaken as milk. I must look at my elementary school as an exemplar of food poisoning prevention again: My elementary school actually got its milk from a separate company that shipped the drinks via a truck. Sometimes, when I arrived at my school, I would be lucky enough to see a truck with images of two cows parked, and I think the name of the company would be on it as well. By designating separate transportation from the milk company, people can ensure that only milk was in the truck. I must admit there might be some limitations to this solution; the climate crisis is still something to consider, and thinking about micro mobility, producing separate transportation based on category may not be the best route to go, so unless the company is a distance away from the school, or unless the company only ships milk in its own vehicle, it might be best to put different things in the same truck, and the solution of using distinguishable packaging and labeling can be applied to prevent a mix-up.
Finally, school districts can ensure that the milk is served by a food and drink company. Once again, in my elementary school, there was physical proof that a company that manufactures milk was serving the school, because its truck was parked in the school's parking space. Additionally, the cartons were labeled as "milk," and nutrition facts were inserted. I am assuming that the pouches the Alaskan school's milk was in were unlabeled. (I most certainly would not write on a pouch of liquid!) This circumstance is important to note, because according to the floor sealant's data sheet, the sealant had a "non-objectionable" odor, which is probably why people couldn't use their sense of smell to tell that milk was not being served when the sealant was dispensed. Had the milk been served with packaging and/or transportation that visually proved was made by a beverage company itself, the milk probably would have been more distinguishable, and would not have been mixed with the sealant.
There are quite a few practical methods to preventing situations like this. Having students' medical welfare in their hands, schools should definitely take some precautions to preventing anything similar to what happened at Sitʼ Eeti Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley Elementary School.
Works Cited:
Hillyard: The Cleaning Resource, "Safety Data Sheet," SDS US (hillyard.com)
Jones, Dustin, "Students in Alaska Drank Floor Sealant, believing it was Milk, School District Says," NPR, KPBS, 2022, Elementary students served floor sealant, not milk, during breakfast in Alaska : NPR
Stelloh, Tim, Pipia, Lindsey, "Alaska school thought students were getting milk for breakfast. They got floor sealant instead," Alaska school thought students were getting milk for breakfast. They got floor sealant instead. (nbcnews.com)
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