Local website Chadegana, on Thursday, February 16, reported the incident happened on Thursday and in the Girls High School of “Nehzat Chadegan “.

Hassan Salmany, director of medical emergency and incidents of Chadegan, announced that in addition to the transfer of 20 students to hospitals, a number of students have been treated as outpatients.

Hassan Cheraghy, public relations officer of the “Bou Ali” hospital of Chadegan told Chadegana that “people who had been poisoned had severe nausea and abdominal pain.”

Ahmad Bayat, Director of Education of Chadegan, confirmed the poisoning of a number of Nehzat girls’ high school, adding that “the required checks on distributed spoiled and non-spoiled milk in the schools are under consideration.”

This incident occurred while in early January the executive director of Iran’s Milk Industry said the distribution of free school milk, had long been abandoned.

According to Ali Roumy, “Since the government has not paid last year’s debt to these industries,  they could not continue to distribute free school milk.”

According to the executive director of Iran’s Milk Industry, 12 million Iranian students are deficient in vitamins and calcium.

Hassan Hashemi, Minister of Health, announced in January 2014 the shortened stature of Iranians due to ignoring the consumption of milk and dairy products.

Mr. Hashemi pointed to the importance of these foods to provide needed protein for strong bones and prevent diseases such as osteoporosis, and called removing of milk from the food basket a “cultural problem”.