UPDATED: 'Diluted' Milk Removed from Glenwood Middle Cafeteria

This story was updated at 2 p.m. to reflect that the Howard County Health Department is still waiting for test results on the milk sample and cannot confirm that the problem was diluted milk caused by pasteurized water remaining in the dairy's processing equipment.

Milk being sold at Glenwood Middle School last week was removed from the cafeteria after a student reported that he thought his carton of milk was bad, according to school principal David Brown.

"Last Tuesday, at the end of the second lunch shift, a student returned a carton of milk and said it tasted peculiar," Brown said in a phone interview Wednesday.

The milk was immediately pulled from sale, and was later picked up by the dairy and replaced with a fresh delivery, Brown said.

Brown said he retained a sample of the milk that was turned over to the Howard County Health Department for testing.

The dairy, which Brown could not immediately name, did its own testing.

Testing determined that the milk was diluted by pasteurized water used to flush tanks as the dairy switches from making a light product to a dark product, Brown wrote in a Jan. 25 email to parents.

"The milk was completely safe but diluted, which resulted in the strange taste and odor," Brown said in the email.

One parent who emailed Patch about the problem said she didn't understand how pasteurized water would cause the symptoms the children complained of, including a burning sensation in their throats and nausea.

The parent, who wrote under a pseudonym, said Poison Control contacts suggested that, based on the symptoms being reported, the milk could have been contaminated with disinfectant.

Brown said testing by both the dairy and local health officials showed the milk was merely diluted with the pasteurized water, but Howard County Health Department officials said they have not yet received the results from a state lab.

"We sent a sample to the state lab and we don't yet have their final findings," health department spokeswoman Lisa de Hernandez said Thursday. "It's my understanding that we will have those results in the next couple of days."

The health department received several calls from concerned parents who reported their children's symptoms and their concerns that the milk was contaminated, de Hernandez said.

"That's what we want to know as well," she said in response to concerns that the burning throats and nausea experienced by some children would not be caused by water. "We'll be looking at whether the symptoms were related to the milk or perhaps something else."

Told of parental opinions that water would not have caused the symptoms, Brown said he followed up with each parent whose child was involved and also sent home the email that disclosed the results of the testing.

He said Wednesday he was unaware of any outstanding parental concerns.

"If just the dairy had done the testing, that would raise a degree of suspicion," Brown said of the results. "But I personally supplied the sample to the health department and they did their own independent testing."

Patch will report on the county's testing results when they are available, probably early next week, according to de Hernandez.