Dozens of students in India's eastern state of Bihar fell ill after they were allegedly given laundry detergent when they complained of a lack of salt in their lunch under the government's free meal initiative.

At least 34 children of the state-run Parsa Middle School in Nalanda district were rushed to the hospital on Tuesday after they complained of a burning sensation in their stomach.

Students said they were served boiled rice and a potato-soya vegetable curry for lunch on Tuesday. "Many students fell unconscious after eating the food,” a student told reporters.

Shortly after consuming lunch, several students complained of dizziness and began vomiting, prompting the school authorities to administer first aid.

The children were rushed to a nearby hospital as their condition did not improve, the school official said.

Headteacher of the school, Shailendra Kumar Singh, alleged that the staff had "mistakenly" served laundry detergent powder to the students when they asked for extra salt with their lunch.

“Out of three cooks in the kitchen, one female cook was feeding the children, and a few children demanded salt, and by mistake, the staff served detergent powder instead of salt. The mid-day meal is supplied by an NGO [non-profit organisation],” claimed Mr Singh.

Nalanda civil surgeon Jai Prakash Singh said the pupils were brought to the hospital with a case of food poisoning. “The health condition of all the children is stable. All will be fine,” he added.

Bihar minister Shravan Kumar, after visiting the students at the hospital, said a detailed inquiry would be conducted to ascertain how the lapses took place while preparing the lunch.

This is the latest case of contamination of food served under the Indian government’s midday meal 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 January, more than 20 students fell ill in the South Indian state of Telangana after eating school lunch due to contamination.

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.