49 students struck down with food poisoning, believed to be from nasi lemak

GEORGE TOWN - A total of 49 students from Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Convent Dato Kramat and Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan (SMJK) Convent Dato Kramat here suffered food poisoning suspected of originating from the nasi lemak sold at the canteen.

Health, Youth and Sports Exco Daniel Gooi Zi Sen said the Penang State Health Department through the Northeast District Health Office have received two notifications of the food poisoning cases from a private hospital in Penang involving students from the schools.

He said investigations done on both cases found the students were from the SJKC Convent Dato Kramat and SMJKC Convent Dato Kramat which used the same canteen.

"The total of individuals exposed were 903 and the total suffering from food poisoning are 49 students, were 21 cases are from SJKC and the other 28 cases are from SMJKC.

"The cause was suspected to be from the nasi lemak and we are investigating the matter,” he said through a statement here on Thursday.

Gooi said there were three cases admitted to the hospital and were discharged from the hospital on Thursday.

He said 14 cases had received treatments in private clinics and were treated as outpatients while 32 suffered light symptoms and did not receive treatments from any medical facilities.

He added all those infected have recovered.

"Kitchen checks on the school canteen and of the food providers have been conducted and the inspection score is satisfactory.

"However, there are some improvements in terms of cleanliness that must be done by the school canteen and suppliers involved,” he said.