A school lunch supplier in Hong Kong will stop portioning meals inside classrooms at a Sha Tin primary school after 39 pupils and staff members fell ill in a suspected food poisoning incident.

The Centre for Health Protection is investigating the suspected food poisoning cluster at Baptist (Sha Tin Wai) Lui Ming Choi Primary School in Sha Tin. The affected group comprises 37 students and two staff members who developed symptoms after eating lunch at the school.

The school, located on Yuen Chau Kok Road, provides lunch through a designated supplier. School information for the 2026-27 academic year lists lunch as being supplied by a designated caterer, with parents and students also able to arrange meals or bring food from home.

Following the incident, the supplier agreed to stop portioning meals inside classrooms and will instead review its food distribution arrangements. The change is intended to reduce the risk of contamination during the handling and distribution of meals.

Health authorities are investigating the source of the illnesses and examining whether the affected students and staff were exposed to a common foodborne cause.

The incident has raised renewed concerns about how school meals are handled after they arrive on campus. Food safety risks can arise not only during cooking but also during transportation, storage, portioning and serving.

The school has 30 classrooms and serves pupils from Primary One through Primary Six. Its normal lunch period runs from 12:10pm to 1:10pm.

The affected pupils were among those who ate the school lunch before developing symptoms. Authorities have not established that the meals supplied by the caterer were definitively responsible for the illnesses, and the incident remains under investigation.

The Centre for Health Protection has previously stressed the importance of maintaining food hygiene throughout preparation, transportation and serving, particularly for meals prepared in large quantities for groups.

The investigation will determine whether a specific food item, preparation process or handling practice was responsible for the cluster.

The school continues to operate, with its official website showing normal school activities during September.