this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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10:58 AM, September 6, 2025.

A child was served concentrated dish detergent instead of water at a preschool in Sande, Vestfold county, Norway. The child was later hospitalized.

The preschool has explained that they had confused a jug of water with a jug full of dish detergent, according to Drammens Tidende^[Local newspaper for Drammen, a major city and Oslo suburb near Sande.].

—"When the child was given something to drink, it unfortunately came from a misidentified container of concentrated dish detergent, which was poorly marked, incorrectly placed, and not checked by the person pouring it. No other children were served dish detergent," the preschool writes in a statement to the parents.

The preschool says that the mistake was quickly discovered, and that the child drank no more than one or two sips of the dish detergent. The preschool contacted poison control for advice but did not call 113 [emergency number for ambulances]; it was the child's parents who called 113 when they arrived, and the child was hospitalized.

The newspaper writes that the child was discharged from the hospital after a few days, but is now back at the hospital for further treatment.

Drammens Tidende has contacted the head of the preschool, who directed them to the central offices of {Læringsverkstedet.|lit. "The Learning Workshop"} Læringsverkstedet is a chain of preschools^[One of the largest private preschool chains in Norway, in fact: 236 preschools taking care of ~18,000 children in 2019.].

—"We are first and foremost deeply sorry for what has happened, and we are now focused on caring for the child and family," writes Læringsverkstedet's leader of public relations Ragnar Sagdahl.

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[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 12 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Do y'all have cleaner packaging that looks like juice too, or is this something more troubling?

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Actually, I just realized that I can read the original Drammens Tidende article through the Amedia subscription I'm mooching, so thanks to that I can provide you with a picture of the specific container of dish detergent in question.

Though even in the Norwegian News Agency article, you can see that it says "water", not "juice", so based on that I figured that the dish detergent must've been clear and transparent. Furthermore, I was a bit of a bad translator when it came to the word kanne in the Norwegian News Agency article: This word covers a wide range of different liquid containers whose commonalities include having a handle and a mouth/spout — so I wasn't sure whether to translate this word as pitcher, jug, can, pot, or whatever, so I just used the generic catch-all "container". But evidently it was jugs in this case.

Drammens Tidende writes that an employee at the preschool took a jug to fill with tap water to pour for the kids, and ended up confusing this jug with the jug of dish detergent. Drammens Tidende also writes that the preschool claims that poison control told them to contact the parents, "who would contact healthcare professionals"; the preschool refuses to answer for "privacy reasons" why they didn't just call an ambulance themselves. The preschool says that the incident happened because their provider had redesigned/changed the labels, and that the dish detergent hadn't been checked and locked away.

The poisoning incident occurred on August 12 and the parents of the child in question were notified more or less immediately afterwards, whereas the parents of the other kids at the preschool were only told two weeks later near the end of August, which they are rightfully upset about. The poisoned child's peers have been informed about what happened, and have made drawings to support their friend.


All in all this story reminds me of an incident in Alaska in 2021, where elementary school children were served floor sealant instead of milk. I never found out what happened to the investigation into that incident — I know if nothing else that the school's investigation into its own (lack of) communication with the parents was dropped in 2023. Perhaps our friend @Alaskaball@hexbear.net might have more of a clue about what happened to Sítʼ Eetí Shaanáx̱ - Glacier Valley Elementary School in the Juneau School District.

In any case, I found it very striking in the Alaska incident how the school was "majority minority" with a high share of "economically disadvantaged" students. In the Norway incident, no information is provided whatsoever about the ethnic makeup of the children nor the wealth of their families, nor are any details provided about the poisoned child whatsoever — but I wouldn't be surprised at all if there turned out to be a racial or wealth component to this story, because there is a known history of even blatant discrimination against children "with non-Western backgrounds" in Norway's education system.

But even assuming this was "just an accident": while accidents do happen, I think this incident still shows the risks that come with handing off preschooling to private institutions, and I worry if incidents like this might become more common as Norway shifts further and further to the right. Incidents like this don't come out of nowhere — they have, as a rule, a systemic cause.

[–] Alaskaball@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I know nothing about Juneau or its education system beyond what I've been told by people I know who went to school there decades ago.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Unbelievable! Next you'll be telling me that the westernmost and easternmost parts of the state are as distant as San Francisco is to Miami, or Lisbon to Istanbul!

Well, I guess it was worth a shot. If I heard about it I would've figured it would've been even bigger news in Alaska.

Edit: I guess you could say JUNEAU nothing about your state's capital haaaw haw haw haw [gets dragged off stage by comically large cane]

[–] EllenKelly@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago

Watermelons! Hamas! Hamas! It hurt my babies!

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's a lawsuit waiting to happen, literally looks like and is marketed like a fruit punch.

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 8 points 1 week ago

Ya, I could absolutely see myself throwing one of those in the fridge if I was unloading groceries in a hurry.

[–] pinguinu@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 week ago

"A chain of preschools" wtaf