JOHOR BARU, Jan 14 — Canteen cleanliness and staff hygiene will be scrutinised after 120 students at an Islamic boarding school in Kluang took ill after eating the food there yesterday, a Johor state executive council member said today.

Johor Education, Health and Human Resource committee chairman Aminolhuda Hassan said the state government will conduct a thorough investigation.

“Initial investigations showed that the students were down with food poisoning after consuming noodles that were prepared by the religious school’s canteen.

“Following that, the school has been ordered to close temporarily by the Johor Islamic Religious Department, pending a probe being carried out on the canteen,” the Parit Yaani assemblyman said after attending the handover of a completed project at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Sri Pulai here.

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Aminolhuda said the affected students are now in a stable condition after receiving outpatient treatment at the Hospital Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom in Kluang.

Earlier, Johor health department director Dr Aman Rabu in a statement said the food suspected to have caused the food poisoning was fried noodles served at breakfast, but further investigation was still being conducted by the health office to determine the actual cause of the food poisoning.

He added that clinical samples have been sent to the laboratory for analysis while the examination of the dormitory kitchen had been conducted by the Food Safety and Quality Unit.

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“The hostel kitchen has been ordered to temporarily close under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 for the purpose of disinfection of premises and further investigation,” he said.