CNN
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Health officials in India are investigating reports that hundreds of children were served food that had contained a dead snake at a school last week.
More 100 children who consumed the contaminated lunch meals fell ill in the town of Mokama, CNN affiliate CNN News 18 reported. At least two dozen students were hospitalized on April 24.
A school cook dished out the meals after they had removed the snake remains, according to the country’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), citing local media.
“Reportedly, the cook served the food to the children after removing a dead snake from it,” the commission said in a statement.
Some of the children showed symptoms of dizziness and vomiting, the commission said. The health scare sparked furor among villagers, who blocked a local highway in protest.
The NHRC issued a two-week deadline to police in Bihar for a report on the incident, calling for an urgent update on the health status of the children.
The reports “if true, raise a serious issue of violation of the human rights of the students,” the commission added.
India runs the world’s largest free school meal scheme, as a way of providing better nutrition and keeping children in education.
In 2013, pesticides in such meals killed at least 23 students, prompting the government to improve safety standards.
