Indonesia’s free lunch fiasco: Outrage after 9,000 Indonesian children fall sick from school meals

More than 9,000 children in Indonesia have suffered food poisoning from free school meals this year, the country’s food and drug agency said on Wednesday, a higher number than previously known, as lawmakers urged the government to improve standards.

The food poisoning cases have caused public outcry and health organisations have called for the suspension of President Prabowo Subianto’s $10 billion free school meals programme. Prabowo has defended it, saying the percentage of those affected was small.

The government said previously that 6,000 children had suffered from food poisoning.

Indonesia’s food and drug agency told a parliamentary hearing there were 103 food poisoning cases, affecting 9,089 children from January until September.

“In August, from the end of July, the cases really spiked,” Taruna Ikrar, the agency’s head told the hearing, adding problems stemmed from the kitchens cooking the food. Most kitchens involved in food poisoning cases had only been operating less than a month, he added.

Based on the agency’s investigations, food poisoning stemmed from distribution of meals four hours after cooking, improper storage of ingredients and lack of knowledge of food security, Ikrar said.

In the same hearing, Dadan Hindayana, the head of the National Nutrition Agency which runs the programme said poisoning cases jumped in the past two months because kitchens were violating standards and operation procedures such as procuring ingredients four days instead of two days ahead of requirement.

Dadan said from January to September, 6,517 children had food poisoning.

Lawmaker Edy Wuryanto noted only 36 of 8,000 kitchens had earned certification for food hygiene and sanitation, while lawmaker Ade Rizki Pratama urged the government to reduce the number of students served by one kitchen.