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CNA
29-04-2025
- Health
- CNA
Over 170 students affected in two food poisoning outbreaks under Indonesia's free meal programme
JAKARTA: Authorities are probing two cases of food poisoning outbreaks that have affected over 170 students under Indonesia's ambitious free nutritious meal programme, the latest of at least six known cases since the programme was launched in January. The nationwide project - part of President Prabowo Subianto's key campaign promises - aims to boost the nation's human resource quality in the long term by improving nutrition in children's meals and nurturing better educational outcomes. A recent and widely reported incident took place in Cianjur regency of West Java where at least 165 students were admitted to the hospital for food poisoning after consuming the free meal packages last Monday (Apr 21), local media reported. 'We conducted checks on two schools which had 972 students in total, 165 of them were sick,' Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Division of West Java's Health Office Rochady Hendra said on Saturday, as quoted by local news outlet Detik. A 16-year-old student from the MAN 1 Islamic senior high school in Cianjur said that he noticed a 'bad smell' coming from the shredded chicken, one of the dishes served in the nutritious meal programme on Monday morning last week. 'A few hours after eating it, I began to feel dizzy and vomited,' 16-year-old M Raihan told Tempo. On Thursday, Kompas reported that 78 students from the two schools - MAN 1 Cianjur state Islamic senior high school and SMP PGRI 1 Cianjur junior high school - had shown symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea after consuming the meal packages. The high number of patients due to the food poisoning cases forced the agency administration to declare a state of emergency in the region, according to the Jakarta Post. The West Java Health Agency analysed some samples of food from the kitchen and vomit from the patients to assess for possible microbe contamination while the Cianjur Health Agency suspended meal production at the kitchen service units which produced the free nutritious meals. 'The laboratory test results (for possible microbe contamination) have not yet been released,' National Nutrition Agency head Dadan Hindayana told Kompas on Monday as he gave the latest updates. Dadan also said that the exact cause of the incident remained unclear and was still being investigated. Previously, he had also said that training and a refresher course would be provided to food handlers to improve their skills, as quoted in the Jakarta Post. He also said that plastic food trays used in packaging the free nutritious meals may have contributed to the food poisoning experienced by the 165 students. 'In the two schools, the food trays were made of plastic, that's why we are requesting an immediate replacement,' he told Kompas on Thursday. In addition to concerns about the food trays, Dadan also instructed the head of the kitchen service unit in Cianjur to separate the flow of incoming and outgoing food items. Since the exact cause of the poisoning in Cianjur remains unknown, Dadan also said that the investigation has been hampered by the fact that the leftover food has already been disposed of by the schools. In addition to conducting lab tests on the food samples still available at the kitchen service unit, his agency also inspected the water and utensils used, highlighting that they were 'safe to use'. CALLS TO SUSPEND AND REVIEW THE PROGRAMME In the wake of the latest incident, calls from civic organisations have emerged for the government to suspend the programme. Besides Cianjur, food poisoning cases involving food distributed under the free nutritious meal programme were also reported in other regions across Indonesia, including the Bombana regency in Southeast Sulawesi and Batang in Central Java. In the same week on Wednesday, local media reported that at least 10 students from a primary school in Bombana in Sulawesi fell ill after consuming the free meal packages which included rice, crispy chicken, fried tofu and vegetable soup. The school principal told Tempo that there was an unpleasant smell from the crispy chicken, which was no longer fit for consumption. Police later confirmed the following day that 53 out of the 1,026 of the packages from the kitchen service unit were found to be spoiled. The 1,026 packages were supposed to be distributed to three schools in the area. In another case this month, at least 60 students from eight schools in Batang, Central Java fell ill after consuming the free nutritious meal packages on Apr 14. Indonesia Corruption Watch said that the incident was caused by a lack of standardisation among all kitchen units in preparing the food, reported the Jakarta Post. Diah Saminarsih of the Centre for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives told the Jakarta Post that the food poisoning likely stemmed from the government's failure to thoroughly consider conditions and other external factors that differ from one region to another. 'The government must at least review the programme and suspending it isn't necessarily a bad idea,' she said. 'If not, the issues must be categorised and solutions should be developed in consultation with experts and the public,' she added. CNA reported previously. 'The socialisation of this programme is very scarce at the grassroots,' she added.
The Star
28-04-2025
- Health
- The Star
Indonesian free meal programme faces hurdles on food safety, funds management
JAKARTA: Almost four months into the rollout of the free nutritious meals programme, President Prabowo Subianto recently boasted about its achievements, claiming that he had heard praise from officials in other countries about the initiative's rapid expansion when compared to similar programmes in other countries. When the programme was first launched on January 6, it aimed to feed 600,000 recipients, mostly schoolchildren. The number gradually grew to three million recipients by April, before officials expanded the targeted population to 82.9 million students and pregnant women by the end of 2025. But cracks have started to appear amid the rapid scaling up of President Prabowo's flagship programme, with the initiative meeting challenges from food poisoning and budgetary issues surrounding the kitchen providing the meal packages. The expansion was followed by an increase in the number of food poisoning cases, which many blamed due to a lack of food quality control measures implemented by the thousands of food science and nutrition graduates recruited for the programme. One recent incident took place in Cianjur regency, West Java, where at least 165 students were admitted to the hospital for food poisoning after consuming the free meal packages. The students came from two schools in the regency, namely MAN 1 Cianjur state Islamic senior high school and SMP PGRI 1 Cianjur junior high school. The high number of patients forced the regency administration to declare a state of emergency in the region. The West Java Health Agency analyzed samples from the kitchen and vomit from the patients to check for possible microbe contamination, while the Cianjur Health Agency suspended meal production of the nutrition fulfilment service unit (SPPG) producing the meals, as reported by on Saturday (April 26). Aside from Cianjur, food poisoning cases allegedly caused by food distributed under the free meals programme were recorded in other regions, including Bombana regency in South-East Sulawesi and Batang in Central Java. The Cianjur case became the sixth known case of food poisoning since the programme was launched in January. In response to the Cianjur case, National Nutrition Agency (BGN) head Dadan Hindayana said that the exact cause of the incident remained unclear and was still being investigated. He asserted that the regency would require schools to hand over any food leftovers back to the source kitchens to ensure better hygiene. '[We will] also be giving out training for food handlers to improve their skills and provide a refresher course at the same time,' Dadan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. After the Cianjur case made headlines, calls from civic organisations surfaced for the government to suspend the programme, including from graft watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) which said that the incident was caused by a lack of standardisation among all SPPG in preparing the food. Diah Saminarsih of the Centre for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) said that the food poisoning stemmed from the government's failure to thoroughly consider conditions and other external factors that differ from one region to another. 'The government must at least review the programme. Suspending it isn't necessarily a bad idea,' Diah said. 'If not, the issues must be categorised and solutions developed in consultation with experts and the public.' The free meal programme was also marred by alleged misappropriation of funds earmarked for the kitchens. Ira Mesra Destiawati, who owns an SPPG in South Jakarta, filed a report with the police on April 10 that the Media Berkat Nusantara (MBN) foundation, tasked with paying her kitchen using funds from the BGN, owed her nearly Rp 1 billion (US$59,400) in unpaid bills. She agreed to resume her kitchen's operation using her money and BGN funds following a mediation on April 16. But her lawyers are preparing to sue MBN for failing to follow up on the payments, as reported by The case stoked public concern regarding alleged embezzlement of funds and lack of transparency surrounding the Rp 171 trillion project. A recent investigation by news magazine Tempo found that some foundations partnering with the BGN are linked to members of Prabowo's inner circle. To avoid similar incidents, last week the nutrition agency changed its funding mechanism from a reimbursement scheme to paying kitchens in advance through a virtual account verified by the SPPG head and person in charge from partnering foundations. Dadan said that around 900 kitchens had used the new payment mechanism, with the rest following soon. But public policy expert Trubus Rahadiansyah said that the free meals programme needed a 'thorough reevaluation' to ensure every aspect of the initiative is managed more optimally under better oversight. 'The main problem facing the free meal programme is mismanagement,' he said. 'Since the programme is funded by taxpayers' money, any cash transfers to private parties must be made public.' He also urged Prabowo's administration to form a cross-ministerial task force to help and provide checks and balances on the BGN and its policies. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
