Bad milk may have caused some students at a San Antonio-area middle school to get sick Wednesday.
Eleven students at Vale Middle School were evaluated by the campus nurse after they reported feeling unwell or became ill, a Northside Independent School District spokesman confirmed. Vale Middle School is located on San Antonio’s Far West Side, near SeaWorld.
The school and district’s Child Nutrition Department staff are investigating “an issue of expired milk being served at the campus.”
“Our preliminary assessment is that this issue is isolated to this specific campus only — no other NISD schools were impacted,” Northside spokesperson Barry Perez said in a statement. “Only a portion of the school’s milk supply was past the expiration date, not the entire inventory.”
Following normal protocols for a suspected foodborne illness outbreak, the child nutrition department reported the incident to the city’s Metropolitan Health District.
At the city department, sanitarians in the Food & Environmental Health Services division investigate food-handling facilities, including school cafeterias. Perez said health officials are expected to visit the school Thursday to check refrigeration temperatures and assess the facilities and operations.
In September 2024, Northside and San Antonio ISD pulled a brand of strawberry milk from more than 200 campus cafeterias after students reported an odd taste and consistency. A few students who drank the milk later reported a burning throat or upset stomach.