BGN Chief Requires Free Meals Programme Kitchen CCTV to Be Linked to Central System
The head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has required every kitchen in the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme to connect its CCTV cameras to the agency’s central system, in a move intended to strengthen monitoring of the kitchens.
“Those kitchens already have CCTV, ladies and gentlemen. The cameras are local. What we want to do is make the footage that kitchen owners can view available to us as well by connecting it to the central system. Then artificial intelligence will be added,” Sudaryono said at the ‘MBG Transformation 2.0’ event at Usmar Ismail Hall on Jalan Rasuna Said, Setia Budi, South Jakarta, on Thursday (29 October 2026).
Sudaryono said he had also presented the plan to President Prabowo Subianto and that it was already being piloted.
“If someone puts ingredients on the floor, does not wear gloves, chops cabbage on the floor and so on, that will pop up, and we can prevent it before the ingredients they are handling become food,” Sudaryono said.
“The pilot has been successful. In line with the President’s instructions, we reported it to him because there have been several reports of food-poisoning cases. It is now mandatory for every kitchen to connect its CCTV to the BGN system so it can be monitored,” he added.
However, Sudaryono said the system’s implementation faced challenges. Some MBG kitchens were reluctant to install CCTV cameras connected to the central system.
“The problem, ladies and gentlemen, is that some kitchens do not want to do it because they would be exposed. If they connect their CCTV, everything is laid bare: whether the kitchen is clean, filthy, poor or good, and all the nooks and crannies between rooms will be visible. But this will be a milestone in the oversight work we are going to carry out,” he said.
Sudaryono is targeting 10,000 MBG kitchens with CCTV connected to the central system by the end of 2026. The agency has also established a Crisis Management Manual to improve oversight of the programme.
“By the end of this year, we are targeting at least 5,000 to 10,000 kitchens out of the 26,300 to be connected to centralised CCTV, with the footage combined or monitored using artificial intelligence so we can take preventive action to ensure kitchens follow standard operating procedures. The kitchens run by the National Police’s SPPG, as well as those operated by other institutions, Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama and others, are ready to connect first,” Sudaryono said.
“We have also established a Crisis Management Manual for cases of food poisoning, accidents and other incidents. We are putting in place things that were not available before,” he added.