NEW DELHI—The food that killed at least 22 children in eastern India was apparently contaminated with a chemical compound used in pesticides, a state official said Wednesday, as hundreds of villagers protested the worst by far in a spate of health scares linked to a public school-lunch program.
The children, aged between 8 and 12, became sick, with some vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, after lunch Tuesday at an elementary school in Gandaman, a village about 65 miles from Patna, the capital of Bihar, one of India's poorest states.
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Bihar state's education minister P.K. Shahi said an initial investigation showed the food contained organic phosphorus, a compound commonly used in agricultural pesticides that is chemically similar to nerve agents such as sarin. It wasn't clear how the food could have become contaminated.
Police were looking for the headmistress of the school, Meena Kumari, who Mr. Shahi said had dismissed the school cook's complaint that there was something wrong with the oil used to prepare lunch.
After tasting the food—rice, soybeans and potato curry— the cook was also taken ill and hospitalized. Her child was among the dead, a police official said.
"The headmistress said the oil was fine and only a new brand," Mr. Shahi said. The food for the school meals came from a shop owned by Ms. Kumari's husband, Arjun Rai, who was also being sought.
Sujeet Kumar, superintendent of police in Chapra district, where the school is located, said the food served in Bihar was stored in the headmistress's house. "She has been missing since the deaths were reported," he said, possibly in fear of the reaction of parents.
Editor; Note the use of soybeans, considered unfit for humans, as it causes sterility and infertility and illness among animals in all studies, being pushed on the population to reduce population growth through soy and likely Gates' GMO soy at that!
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