Two hundred and sixty four samples of ready -to-eat foods (RTE) were obtained over a period of six months (April to September 2005) from 33 school hostel kitchens and canteens previously implicated in food poisoning outbreaks from 2000 to 2004. Sampling was done by food technologists and assistant environmental health ofhcers from various districts in Pahang while microbiological analysis was carried out at the Mentakab Food Quality Control Laboratory. The objective of the study was to obtain a comprehensive picture on the microbiological status of the foods that may have accounted for food poisoning outbreaks at school hostels and canteens in Pahang. Each food sample was analyzed for Total Plate Count (TPC), Salmonella, Coliform, Escheria coli, Staphylococcus aerus and Bacillus cereus. lt was found that none of the ready-to-eat foods sampled contained Salmonella although hve samples contained Bacillus cereus , four samples contained Staphylococcus aerus. High Coliform Counts were found in 15 food samples while Escheria coli was detected in two samples. Overall, it was found that 10.2 % of the samples had unsatisfactory counts.