19 Primary School Pupils Suspected of MBG Poisoning, SPPG Temporarily Closed
The Bantul Regency Government has temporarily closed the Nutrition Fulfilment Service Unit (SPPG) that supplies free nutritious meals (MBG) to SDN Monggang, following an incident where 19 individuals are suspected of being poisoned. Additionally, the regency government has requested increased supervision of the food supply chain.
“The SPPG suspected of causing the poisoning has been temporarily closed, and the authority to decide when it will reopen lies with the National Nutrition Agency (BGN),” said Hermawan Setiaji, Assistant for Government and Public Welfare of the Bantul Regency Regional Secretariat, to reporters in Bantul on Thursday (9/4/2026).
Regarding the cause of the poisoning at SDN Monggang, Hermawan suspects it was due to one of the MBG menu items. To confirm this, he stated that the Health Department (Dinkes) has taken food samples for laboratory testing.
“The preliminary suspicion is that the MBG poisoning came from the milk menu. But to confirm it, milk samples have been taken by Dinkes for laboratory testing,” he said.
Hermawan also stated that the regency government has taken steps to prevent similar incidents in the future. One of them is strengthening supervision at the sub-district (Kapanewon) level.
“In the future, MBG supervision will be coordinated with personnel at the sub-district level, so not only the food but also mitigating the food supply chain to the SPPG,” he said.
Previously reported, 19 pupils at SDN Monggang, Srihardono, Pundong, Bantul, experienced poisoning symptoms after consuming the free nutritious meal (MBG). The cause is suspected to be from boxed milk that emitted a pungent odour when opened.
The principal of SDN Monggang, Sumarni, said the incident began when the school received the MBG shipment on Wednesday (8/4) at 08:30 WIB. Then, during break time, the MBG was distributed to the pupils.
“Then a sixth-grade pupil found maggots moving in the pokcoy and ompreng and brought it to the teacher’s office,” she told reporters on Thursday (9/4).
Due to this finding, Sumarni requested that the MBG that had not yet been eaten not be consumed first. Shortly after, there was also ompreng with an unpleasant smell in the teachers’ room.
“After the ompreng was opened, the pungent smell came from the boxed milk. Because of that, I requested that the boxed milk not yet drunk by the pupils be withdrawn so it could be replaced by the SPPG,” she said.
Shortly after, some pupils experienced poisoning symptoms after consuming the MBG menu. Therefore, the school took them to the Pundong Health Centre.
“It turned out that the number of pupils experiencing poisoning symptoms increased to 18. But after receiving medical treatment, they were all allowed to go home,” she said.