Indonesia investigates as 700 more sick after eating free school meals

Indonesian authorities are investigating food poisoning cases involving nearly 700 children in Yogyakarta province this week, after students ate meals prepared under President Prabowo Subianto’s key free school meal programme, an official said.

More than 660 pupils from two schools in central Java reported symptoms of food poisoning, Gunungkidul district head Endah Subekti Kuntariningsih said.

Ten teachers from one of the schools were also affected, Endah said on Instagram. She said headmasters at schools that received the meals from the same kitchen should monitor their pupils.

“The headmasters (should) tell their students to coordinate with community health centres if there are any symptoms,” Endah said.

Most of those taken sick experienced diarrhoea, nausea and dizziness after they ate meals that were served on Tuesday, local health agency head Ismono told journalists. He said at least 64 people received treatment at a health clinic and hospital. The kitchen linked with the cases has been suspended, added Ismono, who goes by one name.

The school meal programme, rolled out in January, was a major election campaign promise from Prabowo, but some 15,000 children have fallen ill as of October 29, data from the non-governmental organisation known locally as JPPI showed. The JPPI has called for the programme to be suspended.

Improper food storage and late delivery of cooked meals are often to blame for the poisoning, authorities have said.

In the Indonesian region of Gunungkidul in Yogyakarta, some 660 students from two separate schools fell ill from poisoning after eating free school meals, regional head Endah Subekti Kuntariningsih said on her Instagram account on Wednesday.

Dadan Hindayana, chief of the national nutrition agency (BGN) which runs the programme, told Reuters on Thursday that authorities were investigating the Gunungkidul cases and had temporarily closed nearby kitchens.

There are 11,000 kitchens across the sprawling archipelago.

Free meals are expected to reach some 70 million recipients by the end of this year, lower than the government’s initial target of 83 million due to a lack of kitchens, Dadan told Reuters earlier this month.

Agencies