Kitakyushu, Feb 13, 2026 (News On Japan) - Six junior high school students were taken to hospital after falling ill from eating pizza made during a home economics class in Kitakyushu last month, with officials suspecting the cause to be an excessive amount of salt added to the dough.
Students who ate the pizza complained of nausea and feeling unwell after the class, with eight third-year students reporting symptoms and six transported to hospital for treatment.
“The pizza was extremely salty,” one student said.
Because pizza dough requires time to ferment, one class prepared the dough in advance while another class later used it to cook. The city’s board of education said the incident was likely caused by adding too much salt, noting that the specified amount had been “three pinches,” but a student involved in preparing the dough said, “I thought it would be fine to add a little more.”
According to a doctor, the students may have entered a state of salt intoxication after consuming a large amount of sodium in a short period of time.
Tashiro Kazuma, director of Hinata Home Care Clinic Sanno, said that for a person weighing about 60 kilograms, ingesting roughly two to four tablespoons of salt in a short time can raise blood sodium levels and disrupt osmotic balance, causing cells to lose water. He warned that the brain, which can suffer serious damage, may effectively shrink as it dehydrates.
While mild cases may result only in abdominal pain, more severe symptoms can include impaired consciousness or even cerebral hemorrhage, potentially becoming life-threatening. Tashiro urged people to spit out food immediately if something tastes unusually salty or causes discomfort.
“People usually spit out food when it tastes too salty, but in this case the salt was kneaded into the pizza dough, making it easier to swallow,” Tashiro said. “Even if they felt something was off, they may have swallowed it anyway. Situations like this can lead to excessive intake before one realizes it, and it serves as a strong warning for all of us.”
Source: TBS
