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Nutrition Agency, BPOM join forces to ensure free meal program safety
The partnership comes in response to several reported cases of food poisoning linked to the free, meal program, which have sparked public concern and calls for stricter food safety controls.
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Navy chief-of-staff Adm. Muhammad Ali (fourth right) inspects a caterer for the free nutritious meals program at the Navy Command and Staff School (Seskoal) in Cipulir, South Jakarta on Jan. 14, 2025. The Seskoal caterer distributes up to 4,000 portions of packaged meal to eight schools across Cipulir under the government's free meal program. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)
T
he National Nutrition Agency (BGN) and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) have agreed to join forces to ensure the safety of President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meals program.
The collaboration, which was preceded by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by BPOM head Taruna Ikrar and BGN head Dadan Hindayana on Jan. 23, will include overseeing both food production and the quality of human resources involved in implementing the program.
The partnership comes in response to several reported cases of food poisoning linked to the free, meal program, which have sparked public concern and calls for stricter food safety controls.
The BPOM said in a statement that supervision is crucial to maintaining the quality of the meals, as the program is aimed at addressing malnutrition and stunting which affects 21.5 percent of children across the nation.
Additionally, as the production and distribution processes involve many parties and require careful coordination, training for the staff involved is also considered vital.
Read also: Food safety concerns linger amid free meals rollout after recent poisoning cases
Dadan explained on Monday that the BGN will be in charge of monitoring the calorie count according to children’s developmental stages and national nutritional composition standards. Meanwhile, the BPOM is responsible for overseeing hygiene and food safety in production and distribution.
