JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities said on Thursday they were investigating a new outbreak of food poisoning among schoolchildren, linked to the nationwide free lunch program, which has been blamed for thousands of cases in the past few months.
Launched in January, the Free Nutritious Meals Program was a major election campaign promise from President Prabowo Subianto, who took office last October. With a budget of around $10 billion for this year, the initiative is expected to reach some 70 million students and pregnant mothers across Indonesia by year end.
But food poisoning cases linked to the project have been reported increasingly since it began, with hundreds of students falling ill this week in Yogyakarta’s Gunungkidul regency. The news has prompted the National Nutrition Agency, which runs the initiative, to launch an investigation.
“We’ve received the reports. They’re now being investigated and analyzed, and we have temporarily stopped serving the (free meals),” the agency’s chief, Dadan Hindayana, told Arab News.
At least 662 students from two separate schools suffered food poisoning in Gunungkidul, according to data from regional head Endah Subekti Kuntariningsih.
