Nearly 2,000 people, most of them students, fell ill in suspected food poisoning outbreaks linked to President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meals programme this week, officials said on Saturday, deepening concerns over food safety as the government presses ahead with expanding the scheme nationwide.
The incidents, reported between Tuesday and Thursday across East Java, Central Java, West Sumatra, Aceh and South Sulawesi, affected roughly 1,950 students, teachers and Islamic boarding school pupils after they consumed meals distributed under the programme, known locally by its acronym MBG.
Indonesia Food Poisoning: How many people were affected this week?
Among the worst-hit areas was Agam regency in West Sumatra, where authorities reported 276 suspected cases involving students and teachers, prompting the suspension of food distribution from the local nutrition service centre pending an investigation. In Aceh’s Bener Meriah regency, 15 elementary school pupils and a school principal were treated for dizziness and nausea after eating a school meal, while a further 152 students from two junior high schools in the region also reported symptoms.
Indonesia Food Poisoning: Why does this keep happening?
The free meals programme, a cornerstone of Prabowo’s presidency and one of his central campaign pledges, aims to combat malnutrition and reduce childhood stunting by eventually reaching nearly 90 million students, toddlers and pregnant women, at a projected cost of around 28 billion US dollars through 2029. Its rapid nationwide rollout has repeatedly outpaced the infrastructure needed to run it safely, with officials and independent reviewers pointing to poor ingredient storage, inadequate kitchen sanitation and meals held too long before being served as recurring causes.
Indonesia Food Poisoning: How has the nutrition agency responded?
Sudaryono, the newly appointed head of Indonesia’s National Nutrition Agency, or BGN, which runs the programme, described the latest string of poisoning cases as “deliberate negligence” by kitchens that failed to follow the agency’s food-safety procedures. He said checks into the chronology of the incidents found that some kitchens had not properly labelled food trays under a new expiry-labelling system introduced last month, which requires meals to be eaten within four hours of preparation.
Indonesia Food Poisoning: What have rights groups and lawmakers said?
Uli Parulian Sihombing, a commissioner with Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission, known as Komnas HAM, said the government needed to go beyond addressing individual incidents. “The government must provide comprehensive remedies to the victims, including transparent epidemiological investigations to identify the root causes, fair sanctions and measures to ensure that such incidents will not happen again,” he said. During a parliamentary hearing on the programme, one lawmaker questioned whether its underlying delivery model could ever be made safe without significant changes, warning that the president’s broader nutrition goals could be undermined if standards did not improve.
Indonesia Food Poisoning: How serious is the wider pattern of outbreaks?
The latest cases add to what has become a persistent problem for the programme since its national launch. Non-governmental monitors, including the Network for Education Watch, known locally as JPPI, have tallied tens of thousands of suspected poisoning cases linked to the scheme over the past year, and have repeatedly called for it to be suspended pending reform. The programme’s leadership has already been reshuffled once this year, after Prabowo removed the agency’s previous chief in June following earlier poisoning scandals and allegations over budget management.
Indonesia Food Poisoning: What happens next for the programme?
Despite the mounting criticism, the government has given no indication it intends to pause the scheme’s expansion, insisting instead that oversight and food-safety procedures are being strengthened at the kitchen level. Investigations into this week’s outbreaks are ongoing, with authorities expected to determine whether the affected kitchens will face suspension or further sanctions once the reviews are complete. For now, the programme’s safety record is likely to remain a central point of scrutiny as it continues expanding toward its target of tens of millions of daily recipients across the country.
