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View all search resultsStale and sickly: Parents fear free school meals
Parents are growing increasingly concerned about the government’s free nutritious meals program for schoolchildren amid a spike in food poisoning cases nationwide, with many fearing their children could suffer food poisoning next.
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Salwa Nur Azmi, an elementary school student gets treatment in a makeshift clinic whilst she is suffering from food poisoning, after eating free meals provided by the government, in Bandung, West Java, on Sept. 23, 2025.
( AFP/Timur Matahari )
P
arents are growing increasingly concerned about the government’s free nutritious meals program for schoolchildren amid a spike in food poisoning cases nationwide, with many fearing their children could suffer food poisoning next.
The number of cases linked to President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship program has continued to climb in recent weeks, reaching nearly 9,000 as of Sunday, according to education watchdog the Network for Education Watch Indonesia (JPPI).
The National Nutrition Agency (BGN), which manages the program, reported around 4,700 cases as of Sept. 22, but has not released updated figures since.
The rise in incidents has troubled parents whose children receive free meals at their schools daily, including 46-year-old housewife Nia from Sumedang regency, West Java, whose seventh-grade daughter, Uke, has repeatedly received stale meals.
“My daughter rarely ate the meals because they were often already stale and smelled funny,” Nia told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. “Usually, it came from stir-fried vegetables, which varied from time to time.”
Read also: Calls grow to suspend free meal program after mass poisoning
Nia noted that Uke has experienced such issues consistently since the program began in January.
