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View all search resultsDozens of children hospitalized in East Jakarta after eating free school meals
At least 72 children from four different schools in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta have shown symptoms of food poisoning after consuming school lunches prepared under the government's free meals program last week, prompting the shutdown of the participating kitchen due to failure to meet food safety standards.
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A schoolchild is treated in a hospital in Jakarta on April 4, 2026, after consuming a packaged meal prepared under the government’s free nutritious meal program. (Antara/Fakhri Hermansyah)
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t least 72 children from four different schools in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta have shown symptoms of food poisoning after consuming school lunches prepared under the government's free nutritious meal program last week, prompting the shutdown of the participating kitchen due to failure to meet food safety standards.
The kitchen in question, the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) Pondok Kelapa II in Duren Sawit, first received reports of several students suffering from nausea, diarrhea and stomachache on Thursday afternoon shortly after consuming packaged meals consisting of spaghetti, meatballs, scrambled egg tofu, mixed vegetables and strawberries.
The Jakarta provincial administration later confirmed on Saturday that meals distributed by the kitchen had caused food poisoning in 72 students from state senior high school SMAN 91 and state elementary schools SDN Pondok Kelapa 01, 07 and 09 in Duren Sawit.
As of Sunday, the students were still receiving medical treatment at city-owned Duren Sawit hospital and two private hospitals in East Jakarta.
The National Nutrition Agency (BGN), which manages the free meals program, has since shut down the kitchen indefinitely due to a failure to meet the standards for food safety and wastewater treatment.
The agency linked the food poisoning incident to a critical delay between preparation and serving time, arguing that the lapse allowed the quality of the distributed meals to worsen and ultimately triggered health issues among the students.
