https://arab.news/g8nny
- Over 15,000 children have fallen ill after eating government-sponsored meals
- Nationwide nutrition program was President Prabowo Subianto’s key election campaign promise
JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities said on Thursday they were investigating a new outbreak of food poisoning among schoolchildren, linked to the nationwide free lunch program, which has been blamed for thousands of cases in the past few months.
Launched in January, the Free Nutritious Meals Program was a major election campaign promise from President Prabowo Subianto, who took office last October. With a budget of around $10 billion for this year, the initiative is expected to reach some 70 million students and pregnant mothers across Indonesia by year end.
But food poisoning cases linked to the project have been reported increasingly since it began, with hundreds of students falling ill this week in Yogyakarta’s Gunungkidul regency. The news has prompted the National Nutrition Agency, which runs the initiative, to launch an investigation.
“We’ve received the reports. They’re now being investigated and analyzed, and we have temporarily stopped serving the (free meals),” the agency’s chief, Dadan Hindayana, told Arab News.
At least 662 students from two separate schools suffered food poisoning in Gunungkidul, according to data from regional head Endah Subekti Kuntariningsih.
“From a student population of 1,154 at one of the local vocational high schools, 476 suffered from food poisoning. There were also 10 teachers and educators who sampled the meals, and they also got food poisoning,” she said on her Instagram account.
As of Oct. 29, more than 15,000 children nationwide have suffered from food poisoning related to the campaign since its January launch, data compiled by NGO Network for Education Watch showed.
Authorities have said many of the cases were caused by improper food storage and late delivery of cooked meals.
The free meals program, which has so far reached nearly 40 million Indonesians, is expected to receive double its current budget next year.
But there have been at least 5,735 food poisoning cases in October alone, said Ubaid Matraji, the network’s national coordinator.
“The government failed to stop the chain of poisoning. Ten months into the program, there has been no significant change. The pattern of recurring cases and increasing numbers of victims indicates systemic negligence, not random incidents,” he told Arab News.
“There have been evaluations but no action. The National Nutrition Agency appears more concerned with appeasing public opinion rather than improving the food monitoring system. Each time a case occurs, the government simply forms an evaluation team, with no tangible results.”