379 students fall ill after drinking milk at school in Ibaraki

Cripes, it seems to me that there are some folks seeing the boogie man behind every door.

Disinfectant odor could and probably does mean, from experience in my younger days working on a dairy farm of one of my cousins, that the machines used to process the milk were cleaned out, BUT not properly nor thoroughly (if at all) rinsed with clear water.

Because everyone was and really to complain is very bad.

mmwkdw: Agreed, but nothing really ever gets done about it. That's why you read so often about mass food poisonings here.

Is there is there was a disinfectant odor, why did they drink it?

Because Japanese milk always smells bad. I love milk and drink a lot of it, but I will never breath in when drinking Japanese milk.

Total opposite here. I love the flavor I get from some milk in Japan. Granted, when I first drank it I spit it out, but now go out of my way to buy certain brands. Milk in the the US is just tasteless white liquid. It used to have some flavor until the big corps wiped out the smaller producers.

As as far as the this obvious error sometime during production, a simple elementary course on leadership skills might have helped.

Disinfectant odor could and probably does mean... that the machines used to process the milk were cleaned out, BUT not properly nor thoroughly (if at all) rinsed with clear water.

The only comment here that makes any sense.

And what's with all the nonsense about ALL Japanese milk smelling and/or tasting bad? JP milk is fine. It tastes and smells like milk.

And what's with all the nonsense about ALL Japanese milk smelling and/or tasting bad? JP milk is fine. It tastes and smells like milk.

It's because the people complaining about the smell or taste probably have never had whole milk before and have absolutely no idea what milk is supposed to smell or taste like.

Japanese milk is fine!

It's because the people complaining about the smell or taste probably have never had whole milk before and have absolutely no idea what milk is supposed to smell or taste like.

Japanese milk is fine!

Indeed. On a similar note, when I lived in Germany for a bit I was spoiled by the real whole milk, with the cream still on top, and boy it was great. Americans are coddled by the overly restrictive FDA regulations that don't expose them to real dairy products, so when they come into contact with real flavor they think there's something wrong with it, but in reality they just have no culinary sense at all thanks to all their regulations (yet it's the 'free-ist' country in the world? hmm). It's a shame, really.

Agreed with @Cricky.

At best, one has to question the level of quality control here, at worst this should be a wake-up call as a prelude to Food Terrorism.

Australia got rid of their milk for schools years ago. Problem solved.

OK. So we have here a case of no testing of foods prior to being distributed to the Public ? (how extensive it situation). Or simply a case of knowing that the foods had failed, and passing it off cheaply to the local authority ?

"Fell ill'. What, exactly, happened to those who drank the milk?

"Because Japanese milk always smells bad. I love milk and drink a lot of it, but I will never breath in when drinking Japanese milk."

Some Japanese dairies use a higher heat of pasteurization than many in the US, hence differences in flavor. Low heat milk costs a bit more.

In the past, the taste of milk differed according to the animals' feed. Dairies tended to be smaller.

I don't like the taste of milk here, either, but in coffee it's okay and I eat tons of yoghurt.

This the reason i dislike MILK ...

It doesn't really matter what poison is used, the fact that something could have been released into a publically distributed product without notice, should serve as a real warning to all Parents here, that something really needs to be done. Do you really want to receive a phone call saying that your kid is on Life Support, as to their class mates, due to some unknown food poisoning ?

This situation is completely unacceptable. Heads need to roll. Remember "Snowbrand"...

if nothing is done, then opt-out -ask the PTA why there is not opt out option, or are the members on the take for ensuring the local dodgy supplier gets a contract ?

wouldn't let my kids drink milk from next to fukushima. milk is just as bad as mountain vegetables for contamination.

Clean productos and disinfectans May cause severe damage of gut and Stomach. Somethig in the HACCP of the Milk producer has brong

@Félix Lorenzo Martín Moro

Yes, what you say may be true, though lets look towards more simpler, cheaper to access toxins that could cause death. I could name a few household products, so too could many other, and not necessarily the smell of anything other than "Vanilla" too.... so. Do you feel that you have confidence in the food testing quality within the Ibaraki region ?

And, do you think it's just an isolated incidence ?

For us Gaijin here on JapanToday, what we say, has absolutely no impact upon the J. Gov. Since, we are not "Native" Japanese, and therefore can not vote. So, the situation goes on.

Talking about bio-terrorism, it'll be most eficcient to use botulinic toxins. It aren't tasty and letal.

It's crazy. Also we're the only animals that drink someone else's species milk. You don't need it. The whole bones thing is a marketing scam. You can ditch the intestine osteoporosis and other diseases of milk producing countries with plant based alternatives or foregoing it all together

If there is there was a disinfectant odor, why did they drink it?

Because Japanese milk always smells bad. I love milk and drink a lot of it, but I will never breath in when drinking Japanese milk.