Selangor Health director Dr Khalid Ibrahim said the department received a report on the incident at 11.15am today.

“We received a report that some of the victims had symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting, following which an emergency team was sent to the location.”

He said an analysis of food samples taken at the location of the event indicated the cause of food poisoning could be the nasi lemak.

“All of the victims were university students who ate the nasi lemak when they arrived for the programme this morning.”

He said the Emergency Department at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang, the Shah Alam Hospital and the Sungai Buloh Hospitals were placed on alert from 11.50am today to receive the patients.

The Malay Dignity Congress was organised by four public universities — Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) — to discuss and find solutions to problems faced by the Malays.