Bapanas hopes for no more poisoning incidents in MBG programme

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Acting Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), Sarwo Edhy, hopes that the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme can become more orderly without any repeat cases of poisoning. “The Ministry of Agriculture and the National Food Agency are contributing by providing technical guidance to SPPG (Nutritional Fulfilment Service Units) and SPPI (Indonesia Development Driver Graduates), so it is hoped that the free nutritious meals programme going forward can be more orderly and without any more issues related to poisoning,” he stated at the APPMBGI National Summit 2026: From Nutritious Food to National Intelligence, quoted in Jakarta on Sunday. The MBG programme is an initiative of the Indonesian government under the leadership of President Prabowo Subianto, aimed at preparing a superior generation towards the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision. This means that 11 important staple commodities are in surplus condition, providing a strong foundation for supply resilience. Furthermore, one of the main focuses in implementing MBG is the utilisation of local food potentials and shortening the supply chain. Through coordination with SPPG, the government is striving to shorten the distribution routes that have previously been relatively long and inefficient. This transformation is said to also drive the rural economy through empowering the Red and White Village Cooperatives (KDMP) as aggregators and connectors between local producers and the MBG programme kitchens. Sarwo Edhy also emphasised that aspects of food safety and quality are non-negotiable priorities. They have prepared monitoring infrastructure in the form of mobile laboratories ready to travel and conduct testing of raw materials at every SPPG to prevent the risk of food poisoning. “The success of the MBG programme is certainly greatly influenced by all of our contributions, because we know that without strong collaboration, the goals of the MBG programme will certainly be difficult to achieve,” he said.