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

More than 1,000 children were ill free from free school lunch in Indonesia this week, according to the authorities-the latest in a series of mass food poisoning events associated with the millions of dollars in the nutritional meals program.

Yuyon Saaretta, head of the Sibongkor Center for Community Health in West Java, told BBC Indonesia that the total number of victims of poisoning between the two and Wednesday has reached 1074.

And the poisoning of 800 students last week in western and central Sulawesi provinces.

President Prabu rose Nutritional meals program – Which aims to provide free lunch to 80 million children from schools – signing his leadership.

But a series of collective food poisoning incidents prompted NGOs to invite the authorities to suspend the program due to health concerns.

“There are no plans to stop it.”

The victims of the last outbreaks complained of stomach pain, dizziness and nausea-as well as shortness of breath, which is one of the symptoms of non-style food poisoning.

In cases of food poisoning from the free lunch program, the preparation of food was cited as a suspected reason.

The victims of this week eaten meals that included soy sauce, fried tofu, vegetables and fruits – but previous poisoning accidents were linked to the ending sauce, and in one cases, the fried shark is served.

The head of the National National Nutrition Agency in Indonesia (BGN), Dalan Hindana, said on Wednesday that group food poisoning in Sibongkor last week was the result of a technical error by the Nutrition Service Unit (SPG).

According to the SPG operations in Cipongkor, according to BGN.

“An extraordinary event so that the handling of the hand is faster and more comprehensive.”

Cipongkor is the place where the first suspect in group poisoning occurred this week on Monday – as the number of victims rapidly increased to about 475 students.

On Wednesday, another group poisoning in Sibongkor witnessed up to 500 students after eating free lunch.

BGN stated that from January to September 22, there were 4,711 cases of free school lunch. Most cases occurred on Java Island.

However, a higher number was reported by the Indonesian Education Control Network (JPPI). These NGOs recorded that, as of September 21, the number of poisoning victims increased to 6452 children.

“This abnormal situation from the government should require the announcement of the program temporarily erupted for a comprehensive evaluation,” said the National Coordinator at JPPI Obid Mattagi.

Some have called for changes to the plan, including a proposal that the money is distributed directly to parents so that they can prepare meals for their children instead. BGN has already rejected this idea.

Throughout the world, programs that offer free meals have proven to students that they are effective in improving health, academic performance and attendance.

But the 28 billion dollar Indonesia version (21 billion pounds) – which is formed to be the most expensive of its kind – has become the increasing goal of food safety fears and anti -government protests.

The free meals program was developed in the pharabo presidential campaign in the past year, a way to address the partition – a state of malnutrition that affects one -fifth of children under the age of five in Indonesia.

“Through this initiative, our children will grow longer and appear as heroes,” said Babo in 2023.

Since he took office last October, he gained this program, along with other popular policies such as new homes and free medical examinations, political points. His approval ratings reached 80 % after the first 100 days in power.

In the first stage, which started in January, free school meals reached 550,000 students in 26 provinces.

While the program “Goodwill”, Maria Monica and Wahdaga, a visitor colleague at the Esov IHHK Institute, previously told the BBC that there was no “evidence” of “widespread urgency” of free school meals.

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

The cost of the program did not help things.

Indonesia allocated more than $ 10 billion this year to free school meals.

In comparison, India spends $ 1.5 billion annually to feed 120 million children in the largest program in the world. The Brazil version costs the same thing and serves about 40 million students.

The program defenders argued that it was approved and secured in the country’s 2026 budget that was already passed.

But experts have warned that its enormous cost could lead to other concerns.

Mohamed Ravi Bakri, research analyst at the Auditing Council in Indonesia, told BBC that social assistance programs are widely in Indonesia “full of corruption.”

“Given the huge budget size, this program is a golden mine for corrupt officials,” he said.

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