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Over 1,000 children in Indonesia fall ill from free school lunches
The Straits Times
|September 26, 2025
Latest cases come as NGOs issue calls to suspend programme due to health concerns
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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 nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) issued calls to suspend the programme due to health concerns.
The latest cases follow the poisoning of 800 students who ate school lunches last week in West Java and Central Sulawesi provinces, which were supplied under Mr Subianto’s signature free nutritious meals programme.
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.
This story is from the September 26, 2025 edition of The Straits Times.
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