More than 1,000 children get sick from free school lunches

According to the authorities, more than 1,000 children have fallen ill from free school lunches in Indonesia, according to the authorities-de Last in a series of massive food poisoning events linked to the multi-billion Dollar Nutrage meal program by President Prabowo Subianto.

Yuyun Sarihotima, head of the Cipongkor Community Health Center of West Java, told BBC Indonesia that had reached the total number of poisoning victims between Monday and Wednesday 1,074.

It follows the poisoning of 800 students last week in the provinces of West -Java and Central Sulawesi.

President Prabowo has the Nutrage meals program – which is aimed at offering free lunches to 80 million school children – a signature of his leadership.

But a wave of mass poisoning incidents has led to non-governmental organizations calling on the authorities to suspend the program due to health problems.

Muhaimin Iskandar, coordinating Minister of Empowerment of the community, said on Wednesday that “there are no plans to stop it”.

Victims of the recent outbreaks complained about stomach pain, dizziness and nausea-like, which is a non-typical symptom of food poisoning.

In earlier cases of food poisoning that results from the free lunch program, negligent food preparation is mentioned as a suspected cause.

The victims of this week ate meals with soy sauce chicken, fried tofu, fruit and vegetables – but poisoning incidents in the past are linked to proceeding sauce and, in one case, the portion of fried shark.

The head of Indonesia’s National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana said on Wednesday that the massive food poisoning in Cipongkor last week was the result of a technical error due to the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG).

The activities of the SPPG in Cipongkor are reportedly suspended, according to the BGN.

West Bandung Regent Jeje Jitchie Ismail said that his party had explained the mass poisoning in Cipongkor “an extraordinary event, so that the treatment can be faster and more extensive”.

Cipongkor is where the first suspected case of this week’s mass poisoning took place on Monday – with the number of victims that quickly increases to around 475 students.

On Wednesday, a new mass poisoning in Cipongkor saw no fewer than 500 students became sick after consuming free lunches.

The BGN reported that there were 4,711 cases of free school lunch poisoning from January to 22 September. Most cases took place on the island of Java.

However, a higher figure was reported by the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI). This NGO registered that from 21 September the number of poisoning victims had risen to 6,452 children.

“This abnormal situation should require the government to explain an outbreak and temporarily stop the program for a thorough evaluation,” said JPPI National Coordinator Ubaid Matraji.

Some have called for changes to the schedule, including a proposal that funds are distributed directly to parents, so that they can prepare meals for their children instead. The BGN has previously rejected this idea.

All over the world, programs that offer free meals to students have proven effectively in improving health, academic performance and presence.

But the $ 28 billion version (£ 21 billion) in Indonesia – which is formed as the most expensive of its kind – has become the growing target of worries about food safety and heated anti -government protests.

A center of the Prabowo’s presidential campaign last year, the Free Meals program was pitched as a way to tackle a stunting – caused a condition caused by malnutrition that affects a fifth of the children younger than five in Indonesia.

“Because of this initiative, our children will get bigger and stand up as champions,” said Pabowo in 2023.

Since he took office last October, this program, together with other populist policy such as new houses and free medical checks, has earned him political points. His approval classifications were 80% after his first 100 days in assets.

In the first phase, which started in January, free school meals have found their way to 550,000 students in 26 provinces.

Although the program is “well-intentioned”, Maria Monica Wihardja, a visiting fellow at Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, previously said to the BBC that there has been “no evidence” of “widespread urgency” for free school meals.

According to a national survey in 2024, less than 1% of Indonesia households went without meals in the past year at least one day.

The costs of the program did not help things.

Indonesia has reserved more than $ 10 billion this year for free school meals.

For comparison: India spends $ 1.5 billion a year to feed 120 million children in the largest program in the world. The version of Brazil costs about the same and serves around 40 million students.

Defenders of the program have argued that it has been approved and secured in the 2026 state budget already applied.

But experts have warned that the colossal costs can also lead to other concerns.

Large -scale social social assistance programs in Indonesia have traditionally been “full of corruption”, Muhammad Rafi Bakri, a research analyst at the Indonesia audit board, told the BBC.

“Given the enormous size of the budget,” he said, “this program is a gold mine for corrupt officials.”

With Koh Ewes a Hana to Hana Samsir?