September 19, 2025 | 12:04 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) has released its latest monitoring results on mass food poisoning cases allegedly caused by Prabowo's free nutritious meal program. By mid-September 2025, the organization had recorded at least 5,360 children across the country poisoned after consuming the state-sanctioned meals.
"The number is most likely bigger as many schools and local governments opt to cover up the cases," said JPPI National Coordinator Ubaid Matraji in a written statement received by Tempo on Friday, September 19, 2025.
Ubaid views the findings as evidence of the governance failure in the free nutritious meal program controlled by the National Nutrition Body (BGN). "If it only happened once, it could be considered a technical error. But if thousands of children become victims in many places, this is clearly a systemic error," he said.
According to JPPI, the program, which was designed to improve children's nutrition, has now turned into a serious threat to students' safety.
"We can't bear to see children being rushed to the hospital, struggling with IV lines in their tiny hands," Ubaid added. "The President and BGN must not play with children's lives," Ubaid added.
Due to these findings, JPPI urges President Prabowo Subianto to temporarily halt the free nutritious meal program and run a thorough evaluation. The organization also calls for the government to put children's safety first instead of prioritizing political agendas.
The latest food poisoning case occurred in Banggai Islands Regency, Central Sulawesi, where 251 students were rushed to the hospital after consuming free nutritious meals on Wednesday, September 17.
BGN Chief Dadan Hindayana mentioned that the public kitchen for the program in the region had been operating for 8 months already, during which no issues were found. The menu served the day of the incident was also regular.
Hence, Dadan suspects that the food poisoning stemmed from the cooking ingredients. "Our initial suspicion lies on the ingredients, which coincidentally were from a new supplier," Dadan mentioned in a written message on Thursday.
Editor’s Choice: 427 Bengkulu Students Suffer Food Poisoning After Consuming State-Sanctioned Free Meals
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