Family files lawsuit after 50+ middle schoolers served pretzels coated with oven cleaner at lunch

TIGARD, Ore. (KPTV/Gray News) - A family has filed a nearly $1 million lawsuit against an Oregon school district after pretzels seasoned with crushed oven cleaner were served to more than 50 middle school students last year.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 9, centers on an incident that took place at Fowler Middle School on Oct. 20, 2025, when about 37 pretzels coated with crushed Alto-Sham concentrated oven cleaner — a caustic industrial chemical containing sodium hydroxide — were served during sixth-grade lunch.

More than 50 students ate all or part of the tainted pretzels, according to Tigard-Tualatin School District records.

The school district has described the incident as “human error,” saying a kitchen staff member mistook the oven cleaner for salt. Tigard Police reviewed the case and did not file criminal charges.

The family’s lawsuit names the school district, the lead kitchen worker who put the oven cleaner on the pretzels and Fowler Middle School Principal Cindy Pellicci. It lays out seven claims, including strict liability, negligence, unlawful confinement and violations of civil rights and seeks up to $950,220.85.

Student who ate tainted pretzel felt burning in mouth, throat

The student at the center of the case, identified only as L.L., ate one of the tainted pretzels and immediately felt burning in his mouth and throat, according to the lawsuit, along with chest pain, stomach upset and lingering anxiety about eating at school.

The filing lays out a minute-by-minute timeline of the response. It says Poison Control was not contacted until 11:03 a.m., about 27 minutes after staff realized what happened, and the first email to families did not go out until nearly two hours after students ate the pretzels.

The lawsuit alleges L.L. was then kept in a room for roughly an hour, examined and monitored without his parents being told, denied requests to call home and later sent back to class after staff said he was asymptomatic — even though his mother says he came home with a sore throat and stomach pain.

That account is part of a broader negligence claim. The suit alleges the district failed to store caustic chemicals away from food, failed to train staff on handling them and allowed a crushed cleaner puck to be left on a prep counter and then used as seasoning.

Substitute kitchen worker’s account

The lawsuit leans heavily on the account of substitute kitchen worker Chloe Larson, whose story KPTV first reported. According to the suit, Larson tasted the seasoning, felt a burn, tracked down the discarded packet and had to push the kitchen lead to flip it over to reveal it said “oven cleaner.” The complaint says the kitchen lead first described it to administrators as soap.

KPTV previously reported that the school district’s outside attorney never interviewed Larson, and police only did so after she contacted them about her concerns. The lawsuit makes the same allegation, saying the district interviewed seven staff members but not the substitute who was in the kitchen that day.

Police closed their investigation the same day after speaking with the kitchen lead by phone, saying they had no kitchen photos or video and could not establish probable cause. The lead told police the salt had gotten “cakey,” police said; although that account was never documented in police reports, nor was it heard in the interview police had with the kitchen lead, which KPTV obtained.

The lawsuit says the kitchen lead gave differing explanations — that she was in a rush and, later, that she had crushed the cleaner to use on a steamer and left it out.

The complaint also brings three federal civil rights claims, arguing L.L.’s family was cut out of medical decisions, and the student was exposed to a known danger. Legal experts note those “shocks the conscience” and Monell policy-or-custom arguments are difficult to prove.

An attorney, Barrett Mersereau, has appeared for the defendants but, as of Oct. 23, had not yet filed a substantive answer.

When reached for comment, the school district said it cannot comment on pending litigation but confirmed that the kitchen lead still works in the district.