Over 360 Students Fall Ill in Indonesia’s Largest Food Poisoning Case Linked to Free School Meals
More than 360 people in Sragen, Central Java, have fallen ill after eating school lunches, marking the biggest food poisoning incident so far in President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme, officials confirmed on Thursday.
Launched in January, the free school meals scheme has already faced several similar incidents across Indonesia, affecting over 1,000 people nationwide.
Sragen government chief Sigit Pamungkas told Reuters that 365 people were affected, and food samples are now being tested in a laboratory. The government has pledged to cover any required medical treatment.
One of the students, Wizdan Ridho Abimanyu, a ninth-grader at Gemolong 1 Middle School, said he woke up at night with severe stomach pain, headache, and diarrhoea. He suspected food poisoning after seeing classmates post similar symptoms on social media.
The lunch menu in question included turmeric rice, omelette ribbons, fried tempeh, cucumber and lettuce salad, sliced apple, and milk — all prepared in a central kitchen and distributed to multiple schools.
Authorities have suspended food distribution from that kitchen until test results are available. The National Nutrition Agency, which runs the programme, said kitchen hygiene and delivery standards have been tightened following earlier outbreaks.
The free meals programme already serves over 15 million recipients and aims to reach 83 million by the end of 2025, with a budget of 171 trillion rupiah ($10.62 billion) for this year alone.
In a similar case in West Java in May, over 200 students fell sick after eating contaminated food, later confirmed to contain Salmonella and E. coli.
