Rodent droppings found on pizza at school in Soledad

Parents are shocked and disgusted, after their kids came home with a letter from San Vicente Elementary School, admitting rodent droppings were found in the school cafeteria’s pizza.

“T hat kind of throws me off. Like, how good is health up here?” said parent, Tnisha Hill.

What’s worse is that the pizza was served to students before cafeteria workers even noticed. “There’s no possible way that rat droppings, or anything, should be on any pizza. They should be aware of what it looks like,” said Hill.

The district’s letter said a staff member took the pizza slices away from students after noticing the droppings, and the cafeteria stopped serving them. The news shocked the district’s superintendent, as well. “Three weeks ago, the health department inspected all of our kitchens and they all got gold seals of certification. We found nothing in the kitchen that would suggest that there was something that came from a rodent,” said Soledad Union School District superintendent, Timothy Vanoli.

The district said they immediately notified the Monterey County Health Department, but parents complain that they didn’t find out until much later. “A letter is fine, but they should’ve called, as well. Maybe they should’ve told the kids ‘do not eat lunch here, parents need to start bringing their own kids lunch.’ Things like that until they get everything situated,” said Hill.

While the health department investigates how this could have happened, the district believes the contaminated slices came from their food supplier, managed by the Sodexo company. “We believe this could be a supply issue. We’re working through our contract management company to work through the suppliers, and the vendors, to see what’s next with this,” said Vanoli.

The school said they will be re-training their lunch staff, but some parents said they still want to play it safe. ” I will consider having him take lunch from now on,” said parent, Yesnia Picnao.

“Me as a parent, I have to take all precautions. I’ll probably just send them after 12 o’clock,” said Hill.

The district said they will be doing another thorough check of the school’s kitchens to make sure everything is safe. All Soledad Union School District schools will continue to serve food for lunch.