As many as 43 students on Saturday were taken ill after consuming mid-day meal at a primary school at Aska in Ganjam district, official sources said.
The students were admitted to a hospital in Aska immediately and two of them were later shifted to the MKCG Medical College Hospital here as their conditions worsened.
A two-member team of paediatricians from Brahmapur rushed to the Aska hospital for treating the students.
About 140 students of the Tile Factory Upper Primary School near Aska had consumed the mid-day meal. Soon, the students developed diarrhoeal symptoms and began vomiting and suffered from lever pain, source said.
The food was prepared by a local women self-help group (SHG), an officer said.