Why Indonesia’s free school meals scheme is under scrutiny after mass food poisonings

The meal suspected of causing the illness contained turmeric rice, scrambled eggs, fried tempeh, cucumber salad and a box of milk.

By: Express Web Desk

Updated: August 16, 2025 08:16 PM IST

2 min read

The free meals scheme was launched in January to feed around 80 million schoolchildren across Indonesia and to help tackle child stunting. (Photo: X/@RT_com)

More than 360 people in the Indonesian town of Sragen have fallen ill after eating free school lunches, the BBC reported. Local authorities said the meals have now been suspended while food samples are tested for contamination.

The case is the largest outbreak of suspected food poisoning linked so far to President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme.

Wizdan Ridho Abimanyu, a ninth-grade student in Sragen, told Reuters he woke up in the night with stomach pain. He later developed diarrhoea and a headache, and saw classmates posting about similar symptoms online.

The meal suspected of causing the illness contained turmeric rice, scrambled eggs, fried tempeh (traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans), cucumber salad and a box of milk.

What is the programme?

The free meals scheme was launched in January to feed around 80 million schoolchildren across Indonesia and to help tackle child stunting. It is one of Prabowo’s main campaign promises and is expected to cost about $28 billion.

The government has said it will cover any medical expenses for those affected.

Sigit Pamungkas, head of the Sragen government, told the newspaper Tempo: “We cannot draw any specific conclusions right away. But the main point is that it’s not just happening here. The programme as a whole needs to be more stringent and more hygienic.”

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Protests over cost

The programme has already faced criticism over its high cost. To fund it, Prabowo ordered about $19 bn in budget cuts, including halving funds for some ministries.

This has led to complaints from bureaucrats, who said they were told to limit spending on air conditioners, lifts and even printers. Thousands of people also joined protests, with one banner reading: “Children eat for free, parents are laid off.”

Government response

In his first State of the Nation Address on Friday, Prabowo defended the initiative. He said the free meals programme, along with other social schemes, would help build an Indonesia “free from poverty, free from hunger, free from suffering,” according to BBC News.

Since January, more than 1,000 people across the country have reported falling ill after consuming the meals.

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