Free school meals make an enormous difference for kids around the world, giving them the energy they need to apply themselves to their education and potentially covering nutritional gaps in their diets.
Sadly for over 360 kids in Sragen, Indonesia, however, their lunch one day had quite the opposite effect.
Officials announced on 14 August 2025 that a food poisoning outbreak had hit the flagship free school meals programme from President Prabowo Subianto, with 365 reported ill.
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Sigit Pamungkas, the Sragen government chief, said samples of affected food had been sent for lab tests and added that any related medical treatment would be covered by the government.
The contaminated meals were reportedly distributed to several schools in the area after being prepared in a central kitchen. The Jakarta Post reported that it consisted of turmeric rice, omelette ribbons, fried tempeh, sliced apple, a cucumber and lettuce salad, and a box of milk.
"We have asked to temporarily stop the food distribution from that kitchen until the lab results are back," Pamungkas told The Jakarta Post.
Separately, Pamgunkas told Tempo newspaper: "We cannot draw any specific conclusions right away.
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"But the main point is that it's not just [happening here]," he said, adding that the free meals programme as a whole "needs to be more stringent and more hygienic".
Reuters cited a ninth grader’s experience of having woken up with ‘sharp pain’ in his stomach before seeing via social media that several classmates had also fallen ill with headaches and diarrhoea.
It isn’t the first incident of food poisoning among the free school meals in Indonesia. Since their launch in January 2025, over 1,000 people have reportedly fallen ill with food poisoning.
Dadan Hindayana, head of the National Nutrition Agency, said the food poisoning cases have precipitated a review and improvement of kitchen operations standards and food delivery.
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The free school meals programme is available to over 15 million people, with the initiative being led by the National Nutrition Agency. It is hoped that it will be expanded to 83 million by the end of 2025 at an expected cost of $10.62 billion (£7.8 billion).
Meals are prepared across roughly 190 kitchens nationwide, with some of those being orchestrated by military bases.
Back in May, another mass food poisoning outbreak affected 200 schoolkids in West Java, with the affected food testing positive for both salmonella and E.coli.
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The programme was a campaign promise from President Subianto which aims to combat widespread stunting among Indonesian children. It has thus far cost an estimated $28bn (£21bn) to establish the programme.
Rachael Davis