Free Meal Program in Indonesia: More than 360 People Poisoned After Lunch

On August 14, more than 360 people suffered food poisoning after eating lunch under the free school meal program in Sragen town, Central Java province, Indonesia.

Since its launch in January, Indonesia's free school meals program has been plagued by food poisoning cases - Photo: AFP

According to the Straits Times , this is the biggest poisoning case since the free meal program - a key project initiated by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto - was implemented in January this year.

Sragen governor Sigit Pamungkas said 365 people had been poisoned.

Many people reported stomach aches, headaches and diarrhoea after receiving the meals. A local ninth-grader said he woke up in the middle of the night with severe stomach pains and suspected he had been poisoned after seeing friends on social media complaining of similar symptoms.

The suspected contaminated meals included turmeric rice, shredded fried eggs, fried tempeh, cucumber-lettuce salad, sliced apples and canned milk. All were prepared in a central kitchen and distributed to several schools.

Mr Sigit said food samples have been sent for testing and the government has pledged to cover all treatment costs for the victims.

The free school meal program now serves more than 15 million people and aims to expand to 83 million by the end of 2025, with a projected budget of 171 trillion rupiah (over $10.5 billion).

However, since its implementation, the program has been the cause of several mass poisoning incidents across Indonesia, affecting more than 1,000 people.

Dadan Hindayana, head of Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency, which oversees the program, said that after previous poisonings, kitchen and delivery standards had been raised.

Following the latest incident, he announced that he had ordered a halt to distribution from the kitchen involved until test results were available.

A similar food poisoning incident occurred in a city in West Java province in May, where more than 200 students fell ill. Tests found the food was contaminated with salmonella and E. coli bacteria, according to local media.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chuong-trinh-bua-an-mien-phi-tai-indonesia-hon-360-nguoi-ngo-doc-sau-bua-trua-20250815100105353.htm