Marley's Mellow Mood drinks were yanked from the cafeteria in Satz and Holmdel High School following action taken by the Holmdel School District and school food vendor Chartwells on Monday.
In addition, the on-site manager for Chartwells has been removed from the job pending further investigation, said Nancy Quinn, a regional vice-president for the school's Pennsylvania-based company.
Superintendent Barbara Duncan was not available for interviews on Monday, but through a written statement distributed by her office she said that she first learned of children becoming ill after drinking Marley's Mellow Mood drink on Friday, when contacted by Satz School Principal Arthur Howard.
"We called for an immediate and thorough investigation by Chartwells," she said. "Chartwells cooperated with our request, reacted quickly and identified the issues at hand. We were informed that Marley’s was a new product that did not go through the approval process required for all new products."
Chartwells is investigating the incident, and said it was not a product authorized for sale in schools managed by the company.
"The product in question has been removed from schools completely and will not be available," said Quinn.
"We sincerely regret that this product was sold and that students had an adverse reaction to it. Chartwells takes great pride and care in partnering with our school communities to provide the best school dining experience possible and we take this situation very seriously," she said.
An article on Holmdel-Hazlet Patch posted early Sunday by Local Voices contributor and Holmdel parent Felicia Stoler, a Registered Dietician, has drawn dozen of comments from people in the community, some of them parents of children who drank the anti-energy beverage at lunchtime and suffered ill effects.
Who is responsible for monitoring what is sold to the kids? That person needs to be severely reprimanded.