<figure id="attachment_3204403" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3204403" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3204403" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/4ec51f1f-food-poisoning-hold-stomach-envato-081125.webp" alt="food poisoning hold" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3204403" class="wp-caption-text">The Selangor health department said 322 out of the 4,710 exposed persons experienced diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain. (Envato Elements pic)</figcaption></figure>
PETALING JAYA: A former newspaper group editor-in-chief, Kalimullah Hassan, has questioned the delay by the state health department in issuing a public statement after hundreds of people suffered food poisoning at a popular Selangor theme park on Oct 4.
In a Facebook post, Kalimullah said the food poisoning incident was likely the largest in the country this year.
“Fortunately, no one suffered debilitating effects and almost all were treated and allowed to go home within a day or two,” he said.
More than a month after the incident, the Selangor health department yesterday issued a statement saying a total of 322 people suffered food poisoning during a family day event organised by a government agency at the theme park.
The department said it was notified of the incident on Oct 6 and immediately launched an investigation and control measures.
It said initial investigations and active case detection found that 322 out of 4,710 exposed persons (or 6.8%) experienced diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
It added that 92% of the cases involved adults, with the remainder being teenagers and children.
It also reported that all those affected received treatment, with no hospital or ICU admissions, or deaths reported.
The department said investigators found that the incident was caused by contamination of food and cooking equipment used during meal preparation.
After the contamination was traced to the theme park’s kitchen, the department temporarily closed it for thorough cleaning and disinfection.
It said there was no necessity to shut down the entire theme park as the source of contamination did not originate from the park’s general environment.
The kitchen was allowed to resume operations later after it was verified to be clean.
The department was criticised for closing the park’s kitchen for two weeks but allowing the park itself to continue operating.
A source was quoted as saying that samples from the meal had been collected for testing and the food handlers involved were questioned. However, no samples of the water were taken.

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