Woman Arrested For Mixing Human Excrement Into School Lunch

A 20-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly mixing human feces into the lunch at a public school in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The incident reportedly came to light on Oct 8, 2021, when the principal of the public school taste-tested the side dish of the day’s meal in advance in the staff room. After tasting the side dish, he noticed that it had a peculiar odor and notable discoloration. Following the discovery, the principal immediately canceled the meal for everyone else and submitted the food to the public health center for examination. The results of the tests conducted by the public health center confirmed that the food contained E. coli bacteria, Japan Today reported.

Even though the side dish was made in a separate central facility, no other schools that received the same food had any trace of fecal matter in their food. Since the food was recalled before lunch service, none of the students or staff members were exposed to the contaminated food and did not suffer any illness as a result.

Following the incident, the school staff launched an investigation into the tainted food and found a 20-year-old employee responsible for the act. However, it remains unclear what her motive was or how she managed to mix the excrement into the food. Following the discovery, the unnamed suspect has been charged with fraudulent obstruction of business.

Even though it is not practiced in all schools, in Japan it is customary of a principal or vice-principal to eat lunch about 30 minutes before everyone else. Mostly, the practice is just to check whether the quality and flavor of the food is good enough for lunch service.