Over 1000 children get sick of free school lunches

More than 1,000 children have become ill with free school lunches in Indonesia this week, according to the authorities, the most in a series of mass food events related to the multimillion-dining program of President Prabo Subiento.

Yuyun Sarihotima, Head of the Cipongkor Community Health Center in West Java, told BBC Indonesia that the total number of casualties of poisoning, registered between Monday and Wednesday, reached 1,074.

Following is the poisoning of 800 students last week in the provinces of West Java and Central Sulawesi.

President Prabovo made diet – Which aims to offer free lunches to 80 million children at school – the signature of his management.

But a series of mass food poisoning incidents has led non -governmental organizations to call on the authorities to stop the program due to health concerns.

Muhamin Iskandar, a coordinating minister of empowerment of the community, said on Wednesday that “no plans to stop it.”

The victims of the last fires complain of stomach pain, dizziness and nausea-as well as shortness of breath, which is an atypical symptom of food poisoning.

In previous cases of nutritional poisoning resulting from the free lunch program, careless food preparation is cited as a suspicious cause.

This week, the victims ate dishes involving chicken soy chicken, fried tofu, vegetables and fruits – but past poisoning incidents are related to expired sauce and in one case serving a fried shark.

The head of Indonesia’s National Diamia Downtown Dadyan Nutrition Agency said on Wednesday that the mass food poisoning at Cipongkor last week was the result of a technical error from the Food Department (SPP).

SPPG operations have been reported to have been discontinued, according to the National Dining Agency.

West Bandung Regent Jee Richie Ismail said his party had declared mass poisoning at Cipongkor a “exceptional event so that the handling would be faster and more in the same.”

Cipongkor is the place where the first suspect of mass poisoning this week happened on Monday – with the number of victims, it is rapidly increasing to about 475 students.

On Wednesday, another mass poisoning at Cipongkor saw that 500 students became ill after consuming free lunches.

The National Drugs Agency (BNN) has announced that from January to September 22 there are 4 711 cases of free poisoning with lunch at school. The greater part of the cases occurred on the island of Java.

However, a higher figure is reported by the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI). This NAF recorded that as of September 21, the number of casualties of poisoning increased to 6 452 children.

“This abnormal situation must require the government to announce a hearth and temporarily suspend the program for a thorough evaluation,” said JPPI Ubaid Matraji national coordinator.

Some call for changes to the scheme, including a suggestion that the funds can be distributed directly to parents, so that they prepare food for their children instead. Bgn previously rejected this idea.

Throughout the world, programs offering free nutrition to students have proved to be effective in improving health, academic results and attendance.

But Indonesia’s version of Indonesia (£ 21 billion) – forming the most expensive of its kind – has become the growing goal of food safety concerns and heated anti -government protests.

The central element of Prabo’s presidential campaign last year, the free meal program was presented as a way of dealing with breath – a condition caused by malnutrition that affects the fifth of children under the age of five in Indonesia.

“Through this initiative, our children will become higher and will appear as champions,” Prabo said in 2023.

Ever since he took office last October, this program, along with other populist policies such as new houses and free medical examinations, has won him political points. His approval estimates were 80% after his first 100 days in power.

In the first phase, which began in January, free school eating made its way to 550,000 students in 26 provinces.

While the program is “well-intentioned”, Maria Monika Wichaardja, a visiting contributor to ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said earlier to the BBC that there is no “no evidence” about a “broad emergency” for free school nutrition.

According to a national survey in 2024, less than 1% of households in Indonesia have gone at least one day without food in the last year.

The price of the program did not help the questions.

Indonesia has been earning more than $ 10 billion this year for free school dishes.

For comparison, India spends $ 1.5 billion a year to feed $ 120 million in the world’s biggest program. The Brazil version costs about the same and serves about 40 million students.

Program defense counsels claim that it has been approved and secured in the already objected state budget since 2026.

But experts have warned that his colossal costs can also lead to other concerns.

The large -scale social assistance programs in Indonesia have been historically “obsessed with corruption,” told BBC Mahamed Rafi Bakri, an analyst for a study in the Audit Board of Indonesia.

“Given the large budget size,” he said, “This program is a gold mine for corrupt employees.”

With KOH Ewes a Hana to Hana Samsir reported?