Indonesia’s ambitious free school meals initiative—touted as a flagship program by President Prabowo Subianto to combat malnutrition—has been thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Over the past week, more than 1,000 children in West Java province alone have fallen seriously ill after consuming government-provided lunches, with similar outbreaks reported in other regions. The crisis has triggered a state of emergency in West Bandung regency, overwhelmed local health systems, and sparked nationwide calls for the program’s suspension and urgent review.
The first wave of mass food poisoning struck on Monday, September 22, 2025, in Cipongkor subdistrict, West Bandung. According to Kompas.id and BBC Indonesia, 411 students from kindergarten through high school began experiencing nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and, in severe cases, seizures and loss of consciousness after eating rice, soy sauce chicken, sliced melon, and tofu. Just two days later, while local authorities were still grappling with the fallout, an even larger outbreak hit Cipongkor and neighboring Cihampelas, sickening approximately 550 more students who had consumed fried chicken, rice, stir-fried tofu, and strawberries. Yuyun Sarihotima, head of Cipongkor’s Community Health Center, told BBC Indonesia that the total number of poisoning victims recorded between Monday and Wednesday had reached 1,171.
“Hospital wards were filled with children, some crying in pain and clutching their stomachs,” reported Telegraph and Kompas.id. Healthcare facilities in the regency quickly reached capacity, forcing authorities to convert the Cipongkor sports hall into a makeshift treatment center. With beds and oxygen tanks in short supply, many children were treated on fold-out beds or even on the floor—a stark illustration of the local health system’s struggle to cope with the sudden influx.
West Bandung regency declared a state of emergency, and two kitchens responsible for preparing the implicated meals were suspended pending a full investigation. The scale of the problem, however, extends far beyond West Java. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health, as of September 16, there have been 60 reported cases of food poisoning linked to the free meal program nationwide, affecting 5,207 children. Outbreaks have also been reported in Ketapang (West Kalimantan), Mamuju (West Sulawesi), Parigi Moutong (Central Sulawesi), and West Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara) in the same week.
Launched in January 2025, President Prabowo’s Free Nutritious Meal program was designed to reach nearly 90 million children and pregnant women across Indonesia, with the lofty aim of reducing stunting and malnutrition. The initiative, which fulfills a campaign promise, is supported by a massive budget—Rp 71 trillion (US$4.24 billion) for 2025, with plans to expand to Rp 335 trillion next year. By 2029, the program is expected to cost $28 billion, according to Telegraph.
But as the program has scaled up, so too have food safety concerns. The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) recorded 1,376 school-linked food poisoning cases between January and June 2025. That number has since more than tripled, with over 1,000 cases reported in West Java province alone this week. The Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency have each reported more than 5,000 cases nationwide, and Muhammad Qodari, head of the Presidential Staff Office, said on Thursday that several government agencies had identified more than 5,000 food poisoning victims linked to the school meals program.
So what went wrong? Preliminary findings by West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi, shared on Thursday, September 25, identified three key issues: inadequate staffing, unsafe food preparation practices, and excessively long delivery times. “The kitchens are not adequately staffed to serve meals to thousands of students. As a result, they begin preparing food as early as midnight to be served at noon the following day. This is far too long and seriously jeopardizes food safety,” Mulyadi said, as quoted by Kompas.id. He also noted that long distances between kitchens and schools exacerbated the problem, with meals spending hours on the road before being served.
Echoing these concerns, Dadan Hindayana, head of the National Nutrition Agency, pointed to rushed production schedules, especially in newly operational kitchens. “Newer facilities often rush production out of concern they won’t meet delivery deadlines. In this case, the kitchen began cooking too early, causing the food to sit too long before being served,” Dadan explained to Antaranews. In response, the agency has now instructed all kitchens to begin cooking no earlier than 1:30 a.m., ensuring that meals are served within four hours of preparation. Dadan also urged a more gradual rollout, recommending that kitchens serving thousands of students start with just a few schools and scale up over time.
Despite these measures, the program’s future remains hotly contested. Health and education advocacy groups, including the Network for Education Watch Indonesia (JPPI) and the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network, have called for an immediate suspension and thorough evaluation. JPPI coordinator Ubaid Matraji was blunt: “Schoolchildren cannot be guinea pigs for a rushed policy. If the President is serious about protecting Indonesia’s so-called ‘golden generation,’ he must halt the program and conduct a full evaluation. Otherwise, the state is failing to protect its own citizens.”
Other groups warn that the true scale of the crisis may be even greater than official numbers suggest. Diah Saminarsih, chief executive of the Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives, told Telegraph: “The true number of cases is suspected to be significantly higher as many are reluctant to report what really happened. We call to suspend the program due to health concern.”
But government officials have so far resisted calls for a pause. Muhaimin Iskandar, Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment, stated on Wednesday, September 24, “there are no plans to stop it.” Dadan Hindayana of the National Nutrition Agency reaffirmed that unless explicitly instructed otherwise, the agency would continue to accelerate the addition of kitchens, with a goal of increasing the number of operational kitchens to 13,269 from 8,902 as of September 22, 2025.
Governor Mulyadi, while acknowledging the need for a thorough evaluation, stressed that caring for affected children and addressing their trauma must be the immediate priority. “We must evaluate those running the programs that have caused health concerns and traumatize of children. At this time ensuring children are well cared for is our priority. We are also facing on how to deal with the students trauma after eating the food,” he said.
For now, Indonesia’s free school meal program stands at a crossroads—caught between its promise to nourish the nation’s future and the urgent need to restore public trust and ensure the safety of its youngest citizens. The coming weeks will be crucial as authorities, parents, and policymakers grapple with how to fix a system that, while well-intentioned, has left too many children sick and too many questions unanswered.
