Tamil Nadu: 7 students fall ill after dead lizard found in school lunch; 3 cooks suspended

Seven students from a government higher secondary school in Harur, Dharmapuri district, fell ill on Saturday after consuming lunch that was later found to contain a dead lizard. Following the incident, three cooks involved in the noon meal scheme were suspended. The affected students were immediately taken to the government hospital in Harur, where they were reported to be in stable condition.

Harur MLA V Sampath Kumar said, as quoted by TOI, "A teacher noticed the dead lizard only after the food had already been served to 800 students. Teachers then promptly intervened to prevent students from consuming the food. However, seven students fell ill."

Education department officials visited the school and conducted an inquiry with the cooks and teachers. Following their investigation, Dharmapuri District Collector K. Santhi suspended Santhammal, the noon-meal scheme cook, along with assistant cooks Umarani and Chandra.