Acting Regent of Cilacap Reveals 100 Suspected Fictitious Nutrition Service Units

As many as 100 proposed locations for Nutrition Service Units (SPPG) in Cilacap Regency, Central Java, are suspected to be fictitious. The claim was made by Acting Regent of Cilacap, Ammy Amalia Fatma Surya. She stated that around 100 proposed SPPG sites were found to be fictitious or did not match the submission data. The findings were obtained after the local government conducted field verification of the proposed kitchen locations for the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. According to Ammy, of the more than 300 registered SPPG points, around 100 did not meet the requirements. Some locations were found to have no buildings at all, were situated in the middle of rice fields and forests, or were still residential houses unsuitable for their intended purpose. ‘At several points there were no buildings at all, some were in the middle of rice fields and in the middle of forests. This is what we need to fix,’ Ammy said during an audience with the Cilacap Regional Leadership Council of the Indonesian Market Traders Association (APPSI), the SPPG Partners Association, and the Independent Farmers Association in the Vice Regent’s meeting room on Monday. Despite this, Ammy confirmed that the Free Nutritious Meal Programme would continue in Cilacap Regency. She said the necessary steps were to improve governance and tighten supervision of the SPPG operations. ‘The MBG programme will not be stopped in Cilacap Regency,’ she stated. She explained that the programme has a strategic objective to improve the nutritional quality of students, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers to reduce stunting and prepare a healthier generation. Therefore, food quality, kitchen hygiene, and compliance with operational standards must be the main focus. The restructuring of the SPPG follows a food poisoning incident that affected more than 100 students in the North Cilacap area at the end of April. The incident prompted the local government to conduct a thorough evaluation and tighten the requirements for establishing MBG kitchens. The tightened requirements include building feasibility, halal certification, completeness of environmental documents, and spatial planning compliance. ‘We want the implementation of MBG in Cilacap to be orderly and in accordance with the standards set by the central government so that the benefits truly reach the community,’ Ammy said. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Cilacap APPSI, Mustangin Mulyana, expressed full support for the continuation of the MBG programme. According to him, the programme not only contributes to meeting the community’s nutritional needs but also stimulates the local economy, particularly in the trade, livestock, and agriculture sectors. ‘The MBG programme involves many small business actors. Therefore, we fully support this programme and hope its implementation continues to be improved so that the benefits are felt by the wider community, both in terms of nutritional fulfilment and the resulting economic impact,’ he said.