Jakarta, VIVA \u2013 Several cases of food poisoning resulting from\nconsuming meals provided by the Free Nutritious Meal Programme (MBG)\ncontinue to occur, with approximately 50 cases reported during January\n2026.<\/p>\n
A member of Commission IX of the Indonesian Parliament, Pulung\nAgustanto, has called on the administrators of the MBG to pay more\nattention to management practices to prevent similar incidents from\nrecurring.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we move towards providing nutritious meals when ensuring the\nmeals are safe for consumption remains a problem?\u201d said Pulung in a\nstatement on Thursday, 26 February 2026.<\/p>\n
According to Pulung, the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) must be more\ndiligent in implementing management practices to ensure that this\nprogramme, which consumes nearly 10% of the national budget, does not\ncause hardship for its recipients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe national budget allocated to this programme is substantial. If\nthe output still involves many problems, it is a significant waste,\u201d\nsaid Pulung.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, he added that most of the MBG\u2019s funding comes from the\neducation budget. This means that the MBG inevitably leads to many\neducation programmes being underfunded.<\/p>\n
Of the IDR 769 trillion education budget in the 2026 national budget,\nIDR 223 trillion is allocated to the MBG.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cases of food poisoning in various schools under the MBG have\nundoubtedly severely harmed our education sector,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pulung added that the government\u2019s grand goal of improving public\nnutrition through this programme may be well-intentioned. However, the\nmanagement of the kitchens and the transparency of budget allocation are\nequally important.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is needed now is effective management, kitchen management,\ntransparency in budget allocation, and various other technical aspects.\nIt is not enough to simply have slogans about feeding the people,\u201d he\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Pulung believes that the success of the MBG cannot be\nmeasured solely by the number of beneficiaries. \u201cIt is pointless to\nfocus on quantity if the quality remains a problem,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mp-food-poisoning-cases-in-the-free-nutritious-meal-programme-severely-harm-the-education-sector-1772134458", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }