Mass food poisonings cast shadow over Indonesia’s free school meals

24 April 2025 Share Save Koh Ewe and Hanna Samosir BBC News Reporting from Singapore and Jakarta Share Save

Getty Images Indonesia’s new school feeding programme is shaping up to be the most expensive of its kind

Indonesia is on an ambitious mission to offer free meals to 80 million school children – but that hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. Nearly 80 students across two high schools in Cianjur, south of the capital Jakarta, fell ill after eating the meals this week. Most of those who ended up in hospital have since been discharged. This is the latest in a series of food poisonings that have been linked to the programme, a signature policy of President Prabowo Subianto. Authorities investigating the case say the suspected cause is negligent food preparation. Samples from the vomit of students have been sent for lab testing, and police say they have questioned people handling the food, from cooks to packers to delivery workers. A 16-year-old student told local media that the shredded chicken in the meal had an “unpleasant odour”. “I felt dizzy, nauseous and vomited,” he said. Across the world, programmes offering free meals to students have proved to be effective in improving health, academic performance and attendance. But Indonesia’s $28bn (£21bn) version – shaping up to be the most expensive of its kind – has become the target of food safety concerns and heated anti-government protests. In February, when thousands took to the streets to protest at budget cuts, they aimed their ire at the hefty price of Prabowo’s free school meals: “Children eat for free, parents are laid off,” read one of their protest signs.

A campaign promise turns sour

A centrepiece of Prabowo’s presidential campaign last year, the free meals programme was pitched as a way to tackle stunting – a condition caused by malnutrition that affects a fifth of children below the age of five in Indonesia. “Through this initiative, our children will grow taller and emerge as champions,” Prabowo said in 2023. Since he took office last October, this programme, along with other populist policies like new houses and free medical check-ups, has earned him political points. His approval ratings stood at 80% after his first 100 days in power. In the first phase, which began in January, free school meals have made their way to 550,000 students in 26 provinces. While the programme is “well-intentioned”, Maria Monica Wihardja, a visiting fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told the BBC there has been “no evidence” of “widespread urgency” for free school meals. According to a national survey in 2024, less than 1% of Indonesia’s households went at least one day without any meals in the past year.

Getty Images The free meals programme was Prabowo’s flagship campaign promise

Since January, a series of food poisonings have raised apprehension about the free meals. Michelle, an elementary school student in East Nusa Tenggara province, was one of several in her school who suffered suspected food poisoning in February. She told BBC Indonesian at the time that the food, which had given her a stomach ache, was “bland and stale”. After the incident, some parents started preparing homemade lunches for their children instead, a school official told BBC Indonesian. This week, after the food poisoning in Cianjur, authorities have promised to step up food safety processes. “We must improve quality,” said Dadan Hindayana, head of the National Nutrition Agency, who had visited the students in hospital. “⁠One obvious thing is the lack of mature and in-depth planning before this program was launched,” Eliza Mardian, a researcher at the Center of Reform on Economics Indonesia, told the BBC. “The haste ends up sacrificing quality and effectiveness, which actually worsens the public’s perception of this programme.”

The $10bn bill

The cost of the programme has not helped matters. Indonesia has set aside more than $10bn this year for the free school meals. By comparison, India spends $1.5bn a year to feed 120 million children in what is the world’s largest such programme. Brazil’s version costs about the same and serves some 40 million students. To foot the steep bill in Indonesia, Prabowo has urged the country’s tycoons to help, and accepted a funding offer from China. He also ordered $19bn in cuts to pay for it, along with other populist schemes – which made it especially controversial. Several ministries, including education, had their budgets slashed by half. Bureaucrats who were not furloughed alleged they were forced to scrimp by limiting the use of air conditioning, lifts and even printers. University students were furious as news spread of cancelled scholarship programmes and disruptions to their classes. “The worst thing is when the stomach is full, but the brain is not filled,” Muhammad Ramadan, a student protester in Bandung, told BBC Indonesian – referring to Prabowo’s school meals plan.

Getty Images The cost of the free meals programme has not helped matters

There could be more challenges ahead, such as allegations of budget mismanagement, which have begun to emerge after Indonesia’s anti-graft bureau flagged a “real possibility” of fraud in March. Police launched an investigation this month after a meal provider in south Jakarta accused authorities of embezzlement, saying that she has not been paid since her kitchen started preparing school meals in February. Prabowo, who has continued to defend the programme, said this week that his administration will “handle” the allegations and “safeguard every cent of public money”. Experts, however, say the problem runs much deeper. Large-scale social assistance programmes in Indonesia have historically been “riddled with corruption”, Muhammad Rafi Bakri, a research analyst at Indonesia’s audit board, told the BBC. “Given the sheer size of the budget,” he said, “this program is a goldmine for corrupt officials.”

By: Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, Interim Head of Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), and Rajendra Aryal, Representative of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Indonesia and Timor Leste.

The essence of statistics in public policy is to provide the evidence base that informs relevant stakeholders and monitors the development and delivery of programs and policies. In the area of food loss and waste (FLW), this evidence shows a third of food is lost or wasted globally. In Indonesia, the estimated FLW – the ‘missing food’ could have fed almost one third of its population, with economic losses reach Rp213-551 trillion per year, or 4-5% of GDP. Physical loss percentages still require more accurate data. The largest quantity of food loss occurs in the food crop and horticulture subsectors, particularly rice, the main staple for most Indonesians. Meanwhile, FLW in poultry sector has also seen a sharp rise in recent years.

No matter how large the quantity of food humans can produce, it will never be a productive and sustainable way to feed the world when food becomes 44% of landfill waste. The costs are staggering – be it farmer’s hard work, water use, soil and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Globally, agrifood systems account for around 30% of GHG. FLW make up to 8-10 % of the emissions.

Reducing FLW requires evidence on where, when and why they occur. Food loss occurs on the production side of the supply chain from farm to pre-retail; while food waste occurs from retail to consumers, including at household level. In a simpler term, some food ends up in bins before even reaching our plates, it becomes food loss. While every meal that we do not finish contributes to food waste.

Nearly ten years since the world adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), a global challenge persists in reducing FLW and achieving Goal 12: responsible production and consumption. One of its targets is to halve global food loss and reduce food waste by 2030. Equally ambitious is Indonesia’s goal to reduce three quarters of its FLW by 2045. FAO leads the global methodology in measuring food loss and country production of their national Food Loss Index (FLI) while the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) leads the global methodology on food waste measurement and the Food Waste Index (FWI). They work together with countries in reducing FLW.

To effectively manage this issue, Indonesia needs high-quality data to support evidence-based policy. This led to collaborative work between FAO and the Government, led by BPS. We aim to harmonise existing Indonesian data with global statistical methodologies developed by FAO and approved by the UN Statistics Commission, which represents over 180 countries. The output will be an Indonesian Food Loss Index (FLI) and commodity food loss percentages. They estimate more accurately food losses in at least ten of Indonesia’s high-value food commodities, namely: rice, maize, banana, chili, palm, cassava, beef, broiler chicken, eggs, mackerel and seaweed.

This exercise will start with examining existing data across agencies, including from the national Distribution Pattern Survey, the 2017 Farmer’s Terms of Trade Weighing Diagram Improvement Survey, and Unhusked Paddy Conversion and Loss Survey from BPS, the Food Balance Sheet Survey from the National Food Agency, and data from the Ministry of Agriculture, other ministries and bodies. By using existing data, where possible, we maximize data reuse. It reduces the costs and burden of new large-scale data collection exercises. Although, data gaps may also be filled with new surveys, including national agricultural surveys.

By following international methodologies, we ensure sound statistics and the ability to compare food loss across time and across countries. If successful, Indonesia will become one of the countries globally to lead FLI calculation, alongside India. This FLI collaborations also builds on previous collaborations between BPS and FAO on other agriculture statistics, including the agriculture census, and the Integrated Agricultural Survey (SITASI).

These synergies across data sources and data leads will produce more comprehensive statistics. By measuring food loss, we shine a light on where, when and why it occurs, and inform decisions to reduce it, fulfilling the adage, “what gets measured, gets done.” Data synergies also foster intersectoral collaboration in formulating policies and practices for FLW reduction, as well as provide evidence to policy makers. Some key counter measures such as strengthening national food logistics systems, sustainable management of agrifood systems, and building people awareness for reducing FLW require this collaboration.

While statistical efforts above may take time, each of us can start acting now by finishing every next meal we can gratefully enjoy, while very sadly 1 in 11 people around the world cannot afford to have enough meals. In parallel, educational campaigns and other efforts to change the behaviour of consumers and producers not to waste food are needed. The ongoing free nutritious meal programme (makan bergizi gratis – MBG) serves as an impetus to speed up our collective efforts in reducing food loss and waste, while providing educational efforts on the importance of nutritious food for improving human quality and reducing FLW along the value chains. While the programme may trigger an increase in food production, it also gives an opportunity to widely promote a habit of finishing every meal and reducing waste in the food consumption, especially when it’s a nutritious one.

Again, Food Loss Index (FLI) and Food Waste Index (FWI) are powerful statistics contributing to improve economic efficiency and support a more sustainable development.

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– Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s slew of populist programmes that require massive funding, declining tax revenues and questions over new sovereign wealth fund Danantara taking the reins at state-owned entities (SOEs) all converged to dent investor sentiment on March 18, sparking a market sell-off as Indonesian stocks tumbled to levels not seen in over a decade, analysts said.

The Jakarta Composite Index, Indonesia’s main stock index, fell by as much as 7 per cent, the biggest intraday slump since September 2011, triggering a temporary trading halt during the morning session before closing at 6,223.4 points, or 3.8 per cent lower than the previous day.

Growing worries over a weakening economy and slowing consumption in South-east Asia’s largest economy shook investor confidence, resulting in the market sell-off, analysts and economists said.

They said there are doubts about whether the Prabowo administration can sustainably fund populist programmes that have placed a strain on already stretched finances and prompted widespread austerity measures. These include the President’s signature billion-dollar free meals programme for schoolchildren and pregnant women launched in January, which aims to feed 17.5 million people by the end of 2025 alone.

“The government is launching ambitious populist policies, but we see the funding is not there,” Mr Anthony Budiawan, an economist with Jakarta-based think-tank Political Economy and Policy Studies, told The Straits Times.

Concerns about Indonesia’s growth prospects are mounting, following Mr Prabowo’s recent directives to reallocate funds towards his priority projects. The country posted a rare budget deficit early into the year, amid declining state revenues.

A 30 per cent drop in Indonesia’s tax revenue in January-February 2025 has analysts and economists fretting about the country’s fiscal health, as they warn of the risk of a widening budget deficit as Mr Prabowo presses on with his costly spending plans.

“There is a clear risk that government spending will have to go down, which in turn would cause contraction to the economy… The shortfall in tax collections would trigger many things,” Mr Anthony said.

He added that deflation recorded in February , ahead of the Lebaran or Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations marking the end of the Muslim fasting month – which is when people usually spend more – is not a good sign either.

Not to mention the recent mass layoffs that are amplifying fears of a slowdown. Some 60,000 workers from 50 companies lost their jobs in January and February, according to the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI) in a media statement on March 15.

Sritex , one of Indonesia’s biggest textile companies, closed operations in March and laid off more than 10,000 employees after being declared bankrupt.

KSPI chairman Said Iqbal attributed the job losses to companies doing poorly in an uncertain economic environment, and plant relocations, among other factors.

Mr Chandra Pasaribu, head of research at Jakarta-based equity brokerage house Yuanta Sekuritas, told ST that while there is no shortage of initiatives by the government, “there is a lack of public confidence over the implementation and governance” measures.

Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund Danantara launched on Feb 24 is the latest initiative by Mr Prabowo to deliver on his ambitious economic growth target of 8 per cent within his first term in office.

Danantara will serve as an investment vehicle and holding company for the country’s SOEs. It hopes to boost these companies’ roles in driving the national economy.

Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund Danantara is the latest initiative by President Prabowo Subianto to deliver on his ambitious economic growth target of 8 per cent within his first term in office. PHOTO: AFP

Critics have questioned the new fund’s governance structure, and whether it can improve the SOEs’ performance in a business environment rife with red tape and corruption.

Danantara, with its full control over selected SOEs, will report directly to Mr Prabowo. Its board members comprise former presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo, political allies close to the current administration and some influential names in business and finance.

In addition, local media reports have hinted that veteran Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati may soon step down, spooking investors.

The Finance Minister herself firmly denied the rumours. “I am not resigning and will continue my role in safeguarding state finances,” she said at a press conference later on March 18 .

Local media reports have hinted that Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati may soon step down, spooking investors. PHOTO: REUTERS

Dr Sri Mulyani attributed the day’s market turbulence to a mix of global and domestic factors, noting that it remains unclear whether the downturn reflects broader economic and political dynamics in the nation.

“The finance ministry continues to manage the state budget with prudence and professionalism,” she added.

Meanwhile, analyst Henry Pranoto, based in Jakarta, believes Indonesia’s macro-economy remains in fairly good shape. Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves rose to a new record of US$156.1 billion (S$208 billion) at the end of January 2025, from US$155.7 billion in December 2024. This means the country’s central bank has ample room to defend the weakened rupiah, he told ST.

“Indonesia’s stock market currently remains very attractive, with the price earnings ratio at 15 times, lower than the 10 years’ median of 20 times, while dividend yields stand at 4.5 per cent – the highest in the past 10 years,” he added.

The free lunch program has become an interesting topic as the possibility of Prabowo-Gibran winning the 2024 presidential election is high.

Calculating the Value of the Free Lunch Program

The free lunch program has become an interesting topic of discussion due to the high possibility that the Prabowo-Gibran couple will be elected as President of Indonesia for the 2024-2029 period. The quick count results of a number of survey institutions and the KPU’s real count show the dominance of the votes for the second-placed pair, namely around 58 percent. The implementation of this populist program is eagerly awaited.

Officials are preparing for a lunch program simulation where students at SMP Negeri 2 Curug in the Tangerang Regency, Banten will receive free lunch on Thursday (29/2/2024). As many as 160 free lunch servings are being prepared for the students during this event.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI. The original article can be found in Mengalkulasi Nilai Program Makan Siang Gratis

In the 2024 Presidential Election, the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka tandem presented their vision “Together Toward Indonesia’s Prosperous Future” towards Indonesia’s 2045 Golden Era. In order to achieve this goal, the pair made efforts to realize it by referring to three major pillars of their future vision. First is Asta Cita which consists of 8 main missions; second is the Priority Program which consists of 17 major activity plans; and lastly, the Best and Fastest Program which includes 8 important agendas.

For the Best Fast Program, the elected president and vice president will directly oversee 8 of their superior programs for the next 5 years. This is considered crucial for the country’s leaders because the Best Fast Program is an important foundation for the nation to achieve Indonesia Emas 2045.

Of the eight Best Fast Programs, there is one program that is now gaining the attention of the wider public. This program is the provision of free lunch and milk in schools and pesantren, as well as nutrition assistance for toddlers and pregnant women.

In terms of targets or aims, the program is relatively noble. The reason is, the program aims to eradicate or reduce stunting (tengkes) in order to produce human resources ( human resources) quality and improve the quality of life of future generations of the nation.

The free lunch and milk program is provided on a daily basis and given to pre-school, elementary school (SD), junior high school (SMP), high school (SMA), and pesantren students. In addition, this program also distributes nutritional assistance to pregnant mothers and toddlers throughout Indonesia to improve health and assist family economies. The target is for 100 percent of beneficiaries to receive the program by 2029, covering approximately 80 million beneficiaries.

Also read: Simulation of Free Lunch at SMPN 2 Curug Becomes Government’s “Problem Shopping” Material

With the plan for the free lunch program, the government’s budget allocation in the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) will certainly increase. Several questions have arisen, with one of them specifically asking how the allocation will be provided.

National Winning Team (TKN) Expert Council for Prabowo-Gibran, Drajad Wibowo, explains that the free lunch program will be attempted using new sources of income. Accordingly, Drajat states that the funding will not be using funds from previously existing programs in the state budget (APBN), including not touching on the operational aid funds for educational units (BOSP).

Drajat also said that there has never been an option to fund the lunch program through the reallocation of funds from previously budgeted programs. Not from fuel subsidies, not from BOS, nor any other programs. He stressed that to finance the free meal program, it relies on new revenue (Kompas.id, 4/3/2024).

Budget nutritious food

From the statement of the expert council from the national campaign team, it indicates that the future government will try to find new sources of funding without sacrificing the allocation of spending for other sectors. Ideally, the government will work to increase the country’s revenue sources so that it can increase spending while also encouraging optimal growth in all economic sectors.

In simple terms, the free lunch program pushed government expenditure to a range of over IDR 150 trillion. This figure is obtained from the estimated calculated value of nutritious food consumption for each child or beneficiary multiplied by the effective number of days of school.

Nutritious food has become an important issue because the main goal of the free school lunch program is to eradicate or reduce malnutrition. With this nutritious intake, it is hoped to produce high-quality human resources and improve the quality of life of the younger generation. Therefore, the food served in the program ideally should meet healthy and nutritious criteria. The question is, what is the estimated cost of nutritious food?

There are a number of approaches that can be used to project that free lunch budget. One way is to use a cost approach for shopping for food that contains balanced or healthy nutrition. The results of the investigation by the Kompas Daily data journalism team calculated that the costs that Indonesian people need to pay to buy balanced or healthy nutritious food is IDR 22,126 per day or IDR 663,791 per month. This budget includes daily milk powder intake. This food cost estimate is based on the Healthy Diet Basket (HDB) nutritional composition standards, which are also used by the World Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO (Kompas, 9/12/2022).

Also read: More than half of Indonesia’s population cannot afford nutritious food

Infographic: Communities unable to reach balanced nutrition. Data journalism on average prices of nutritious food.

The nominal amount of Rp 22,126 is an estimated cost of daily nutritious food per capita, based on the standard value price at the end of 2022. This means that if the average Indonesian consumes food three times a day, the cost of one meal per person would be Rp 7,375. This nominal amount may experience slight increases currently due to changes in the general trend of food prices.

Referring to the calculation and multiplied by the estimated individuals who will benefit from the lunch program which is around 80 million people, the country should allocate funds of at least Rp 153.40 trillion. This nominal is obtained from the estimated cost of one portion of nutritious food multiplied by the number of beneficiaries and multiplied again by the number of active working days which reaches 260 days.

The estimation can be used as a simple reference so that the estimated funds required by the state to implement the free lunch and milk program can be calculated. Additionally, it can be used as a comparison with other technical calculations in order to see the differences in the calculations.

According to the Indonesia Food Security Review (IFSR), the free lunch program requires approximately Rp 450 trillion per year, based on the price of Rp 15,000 per meal. However, discrepancies in calculations may arise due to differences in the reference used to calculate nutritious and healthy food. Additionally, fluctuations in food prices may also affect the estimated cost of nutritious food that will be implemented in the program.

The relatively large estimate for the lunch budget certainly requires the government’s seriousness and caution to realize it. This is because the required funds are far greater than the budget of several ministries/agencies that require large funds every year. For example, the Ministry of Defense, with an expenditure value of around IDR 135 trillion in the 2024 State Budget Draft, and the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, which budgets for around IDR 147 trillion this year.

Therefore, policy makers from the central to regional levels must be careful in implementing it later. The reason is, it will be very massive involving many parties to operate the free meal program every day. Apart from being prone to causing various technical problems and also being prone to corruption, this policy is vulnerable to affecting the government’s fiscal policy in providing funds.

Also read: Free “Maximum” Offer of IDR 15,000 and When Business Partner Kaesang Pangarep’s Social Media Account ”Rujak” ”Netizens”…

According to Drajad Wibowo, the Prabowo-Gibran pair will always prioritize the principle of fiscal discipline with a maximum deficit of 3 percent. Moreover, there will also be no increase in Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Income Tax (PIT) rates resulting from this free lunch program.

This indicates that the government will try to be as rational as possible with the available budget to implement the free lunch program. The budget deficit will continue to be kept below 3 percent in the state budget. Therefore, if the program is going to be implemented as soon as Prabowo-Gibran takes office, the easiest step is to reallocate the budget from ministries and agencies. In addition, the program can also be implemented gradually or only targeting certain groups of society as an initial stage. Subsequently, it will continue to be expanded as the country’s income increases.

However, to be certain, these policy steps will be announced directly by Prabowo-Gibran when the two of them have been inaugurated by the KPU as president and vice president for 2024-2029. (R&D COMPAS)