In an unsettling incident at Fowler Middle School in Tigard, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, students were unwittingly served pretzels contaminated with oven cleaner earlier this week. School officials have confirmed the mishap and are addressing the concerns raised by anxious parents and guardians.

The unfortunate event was communicated to families through an email from the school, which explained that the oven cleaner, mistakenly used, was in a granular form. This substance ended up being sprinkled onto the pretzels served to students.

“We acknowledge the understandable concerns surrounding the food-contamination incident on Monday, where a granular oven cleaner was erroneously applied to pretzels,” the email stated. “We apologize for this occurrence. Our commitment at Fowler and throughout the District is to the health and safety of our students, and incidents like these threaten the trust we strive to build with our community.”