Over 1,000 Indonesians sick from school meals in more food poisoning outbreaks
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Health workers treating a student for food poisoning at a makeshift clinic in Bandung, West Java province.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JAKARTA – More than 1,000 children in Indonesia’s West Java suffered food poisoning this week from school lunches, the latest in a series of outbreaks and another setback for President Prabowo Subianto’s multibillion-dollar free meals programme
The mass poisoning was reported in four areas of West Java province, its governor Dedi Mulyadi told Reuters on Sept 25, which came as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) issued calls to suspend the programme due to health concerns.
The latest cases follow the poisoning of 800 students
Questions have been raised about standards and oversight of the scheme, which has expanded rapidly to reach over 20 million recipients, with an ambitious goal of feeding 83 million of Indonesia’s 280 million people by the year end.
The programme’s 171 trillion rupiah (S$13 billion) budget will double in 2026.
Mr Mulyadi said more than 470 students fell sick in West Bandung on Sept 22 after eating the free lunches, and three more outbreaks took place there on Sept 24 and in the Sukabumi region, affecting at least 580 children.
“We must evaluate those running the programme... and the most important thing is how to deal with the students’ trauma after eating the food,” he said, adding that small hospitals in West Bandung were overwhelmed by sick students.
Dr Dadan Hindayana, head of the National Nutrition Agency that oversees the free meals programme, said kitchens with poisoning cases have been suspended.
Surge in cases
Local broadcaster Kompas TV showed footage from a local sports hall in West Bandung that was turned into a makeshift treatment centre, with dozens of sick students on fold-out beds, and others laid on the floor in pain.
Other images showed students being treated outside of hospital buildings with ambulances coming and going.
A young girl grimacing in pain as she was treated for food poisoning at a makeshift clinic in Bandung, West Java province.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Lisa Bila Zahara, 15, said she fell ill after eating a school lunch of chicken and tofu cooked with soya sauce on Sept 24.
“Around 30 minutes later, I felt nauseous and had a headache,” the high school student told Reuters at a sports hall turned into a makeshift treatment centre in West Bandung.
Before this week’s incident, at least 6,452 children nationwide had suffered from food poisoning from the programme since it was launched in January, according to think-tank Network for Education Watch.
Mr Mulyadi said kitchens were tasked with feeding too many students and were located far from the schools, forcing them to start cooking very early, sometimes the night before it was served for lunch.
“When the food was still warm, it was immediately put on the tray and the tray was closed, making it spoiled, stale,” he said.
Mr Iqbal Maulana, the head of a kitchen that provided some of the free meals, said: “We do it according to the standard operating procedure.”
The local government has declared health emergency status for the West Bandung region due to mass food poisoning, allowing the provincial government to allocate budget to handle the cases, Mr Mulyadi added. REUTERS
