Indonesia’s free school meals tainted by food poisoning : Shared by Tom McDermott

Maggots in the meals, glass in the rice: Indonesia’s free school meals tainted by food poisoning

Michael Neilson
The Guardian
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Summary

Indonesia’s ambitious £3.2 billion free meals programme, launched by President Prabowo Subianto to combat child malnutrition, has been marred by thousands of food poisoning cases. Over 15,000 children have fallen ill, with reports of maggots in tempeh, glass in rice, and unsanitary kitchen conditions. While the government claims the incidents represent only 0.0017% of the billion meals served, NGOs warn of systemic hygiene failures and lack of regulation. Authorities have suspended 132 kitchens and promised new safety rules, but experts say the programme’s rapid expansion without oversight has endangered children and exposed deeper issues of corruption, military involvement, and weak accountability.

Quotes
“This programme’s implementation has been careless,” said nutritionist Dr Tan Shot Yen. “Bacterial contamination like salmonella or E coli could become endemic if unchecked.”
“There’s no way a nutritionist can control quality under those conditions,” said Diah Saminarsih, founder of the Centre for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives.
“We admit we are not perfect,” said BGN spokeswoman Dian Fatwa. “But we are improving constantly.”