MUAR: Only one student out of the 125 from the Muar Vocational College who succumbed to food poisoning remains hospitalised.
Johor Health, Environment, Education and Information Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said that no other students displayed symptoms of food poisoning.
"Only one student, a 17-year-old girl, remains hospitalised after the food poisoning case. She is reported to be stable.
"No other student has come forward with symptoms of food poisoning," said Ayub.
A total of 125 students from the Muar Vocational College fell ill on Sunday after enjoying a seafood "shellout" style meal the night before as part of a year-end celebration.
Their meal, which consisted of mussels, prawns and crabs, was prepared at the hostel's kitchen.
Health authorities later ordered the kitchen to be closed for three days. Initial checks showed that the source of the food poisoning might have been the seafood, in particular the mussels.
Three of the kitchen staff were also found to have not undergone any food handling courses.
Ayub said that personnel from the Muar Health Office will conduct checks at the hostel kitchen to determine if it had adhered to requirements under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.
He said that the facility will only be allowed to resume operations if it met the requirements.
"The health authorities will conduct another check at the hostel kitchen of the vocational college. It will allow the facility to resume operations if all the requirements were met," he said.
Ayub said samples of food and water, and swab samples from the food handlers and kitchen equipment were sent to the Johor Baru Public Health Laboratory for analysis.
"The laboratory test results will normally take two weeks to be completed," he said.
Initial investigation showed that a total of 380 students and teachers were exposed to the food.