Contaminated NJ Kids' School Milk Caused By Sanitizer ‘Diluted With Water'

CAMDEN, NJ — Guida’s Dairy — the company that processed the milk that sent dozens of students and a staff member from four Camden City development centers to the hospital on Wednesday — told Patch the contamination occurred when “a food-grade sanitizer diluted with water was inadvertently introduced during production.”

“While we believe the product impacted is limited, out of an abundance of caution, we are disposing of any 1%, low-fat half-pint milk cartons with a sell-by date of April 11,” Guida’s Dairy also said in a statement emailed to Patch.

The impacted product is not sold at any retail stores, the company said.

Officials from the FDA, the New Jersey Department of Health and Camden County were all at Guida's Dairy on Thursday afternoon, Dan Keashen, a Camden County spokesperson said.

"The state [Wednesday] night made a recall of the lot of milk that was produced," Keashen continued. "Based on the events from [Wednesday] we expect a full and thorough investigation that will ensure that this never happens again to a single solitary student in Camden County.”

Centers Called 911 Wednesday Morning

The event that triggered the contaminated milk investigation occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, Camden County had announced earlier.

Staff at the Early Childhood Development Center in the Parkside section of Camden called 911 after “25 children ingested milk from sealed cartons with an unidentified substance that had an antiseptic-like odor to it,” according to Camden County.

A similar situation with fewer students unfolded at Riletta Twyne Cream Early Development Center later Wednesday, the county said.

A total of 45 students and one staff member from both early education centers were sent to various hospitals around Camden, according to the county said.

“One adult and 22 pediatric patients from Early Childhood Center and an additional four from Riletta Cream School,” were sent to Cooper University Health Care, according to Wendy A. Marano, the health system’s public relations manager.

None of the patients taken to Cooper were seriously ill, Marano said.

“All were valuated out of an abundance of caution and then released to their guardians/parents,” she continued. “We [also] dispatched three emergency medical physicians to Riletta Cream school to assist in evaluation and onsite triage. None were admitted.”

The remaining patients were taken to Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital for “examination and discharged later in the morning,” Camden County said.

“Preliminary testing” of the milk at the other two schools is underway, according to Camden County. There was no mention of illnesses or hospitalizations at either of these last two schools.

“This was a scary situation but thankfully, everyone who was exposed to the milk is in stable condition and either back at school or home,” Camden County Health Officer Paschal Nwako said in a press release the county issued late Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Camden City School District said it pulled all milk from its schools and that the beverage will stay off its menu until the investigation into how a non-deadly, consumable sanitizer got into the beverage is complete.

In addition, at least one other school district – Hamilton, in Mercer County, has stopped offering Guida from its shelves after learning of the Camden incident.

'Not The Most Common Thing’ That Kids Experience

Health experts called the incident at the early childhood development centers isolated and expressed hope it provides parents with several teaching moments.

“This is not the most common thing,” that will happen to a child, Dennis Guest, MD, an emergency room physician at Virtua Health told Patch, adding that scrapes, falls and infectious diseases are far more common, he said

Diane P. Calello, MD, the executive and medical director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, agreed.

“Events like [the one in Camden] are very rare,” she said. Therefore, “being concerned about every, you know, food or drinks of their child consumes does not make sense.”

That said, parents should take a child seriously if the child complains that something they are about to eat or drink smells or looks different, Calello continued.

“Don't assume that the child is objecting to the taste because they just don't want it when in fact something may be wrong with it,” she said.

In addition, parents who did not supervise their child eating should listen for complaints of stomach aches or throat irritation, as these may be signs that they have ingested something potentially dangerous, according to Calello.

Whenever in doubt, a parent or guardian should take their child to an emergency room “just be reassured that everything's going to be okay.”

Guest said he hoped the Camden incident reminded parents and guardians about the importance of keeping potentially poisonous products away from children.

"Children are curious people, and they like to open things up and get into them," he said. Therefore, these "products need to be kept out of the reach of children and not kept under sinks or in bathrooms," he said.

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