More than 360 people fell ill in the Indonesian town of Sragen in Central Java after consuming school lunches, according to officials, in the largest food poisoning case to hit President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme to date.
Since its launch in January, the free school meals programme has been marred by mass food poisoning cases across the archipelago, affecting more than 1,000 people.
Sragen government chief Sigit Pamungkas said 365 people fell ill and a food sample had been sent to a lab for testing. The government said it would pay for any medical treatment if needed.
One student at a local middle school said he was woken at night by sharp pain in his stomach. He had a headache and diarrhoea, which he realised had been caused by food poisoning after seeing schoolmates’ social media posts complaining the same.
The likely contaminated lunch was turmeric rice, omelette ribbons, fried tempeh, cucumber and lettuce salad, sliced apple and a box of milk, cooked in a central kitchen and distributed to several schools.
“We have asked to temporarily stop the food distribution from that kitchen until the lab results are back,” Sigit said.
The government’s national nutrition agency, which oversees the programme, has raised the standards of kitchen operations and delivery in the aftermath of previous food poisoning cases, said its chief, Dadan Hindayana.
The multibillion-dollar policy was a centrepiece of Prabowo’s election campaign and the former general said the programme would improve participants quality of life and boost economic growth.
The free meals programme has been rapidly expanded to over 15 million recipients so far. Authorities plan to reach 83 million people by year-end, budgeting a total cost of 171 trillion rupiah ($10.62bn) this year.
In January, at least 190 kitchens run by third-party catering services opened nationwide, including some run by military bases, to produce the meals.
In a food poisoning case in a city in West Java in May, more than 200 students fell ill and a lab found the food was contaminated with Salmonella and E coli bacteria, according to media reports.
