In brief
In the wake of Indonesia's ambitious free school lunch initiative, more than 1,000 children have reported falling ill due to mass food poisoning incidents. Linked to the government's program aimed at providing nutritious meals to students, the outbreaks have sparked widespread health concerns and calls for suspension of the initiative. Government officials maintain that the program will continue despite rising health issues, with thousands of cases reported since its inception.
More than 1,000 children have fallen ill from free school lunches in Indonesia this week, according to authorities – the latest in a string of mass food poisoning events linked to President Prabowo Subianto's multi-billion-dollar nutritious meals programme.
Yuyun Sarihotima, head of West Java's Cipongkor Community Health Center, told BBC Indonesia that the total number of poisoning victims recorded between Monday and Wednesday had reached 1,258.
This follows the poisoning of 800 students last week in West Java and Central Sulawesi provinces.
President Prabowo has made the nutritious meals programme a signature of his leadership, aiming to offer free lunches to 80 million school children.
However, the rising number of food poisoning incidents has led NGOs to call for authorities to pause the initiative due to health concerns. Muhaimin Iskandar, Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment, stated on Wednesday that there are no plans to stop it.
Victims of the recent outbreaks reported stomach aches, dizziness, nausea, and unusual symptoms like shortness of breath. Negligent food preparation has been cited as a suspected cause for past incidents.
Meals consumed this week included soy sauce chicken, fried tofu, vegetables, and fruit, but previous cases stemmed from expired sauces and one incident involved serving fried shark.
The head of Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency, Dadan Hindayana, indicated that last week's mass poisoning in Cipongkor was linked to a technical error by the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG), which has since been suspended from operations.
In total, 4,711 cases of free school lunch poisoning have been reported from January to September, predominantly on the island of Java. The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network reported an even higher figure of 6,452 victims as of late September. Calls for the government to declare an outbreak and temporarily halt the programme have been made by advocates for children's health.
Across the globe, free meal programmes have often improved health and attendance rates among students. However, Indonesia's costly version of $28 billion has drawn scrutiny amidst protests and food safety concerns.
This initiative aims to combat stunting, a condition affecting many children in Indonesia, but experts suggest the programme lacks urgent necessity. With funds exceeding $10 billion this year alone, questions about efficiency and safety linger, especially concerning past corruption in similar large-scale initiatives.
