BGN States 65% of Indonesians Need Free Nutritious Meals Programme, Here's Why!

Pangkalpinang, VIVA – Deputy Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Sony Sanjaya, stated that 65 percent of Indonesians require the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) Programme, as it has succeeded in improving the nutritional intake of beneficiaries and strengthening the local economy.

“Alhamdulillah, based on the survey, 65 percent of Indonesians need this MBG Programme,” said Sony Sanjaya during the MBG Programme Consolidation Meeting in Pangkalpinang on Friday, 17 April 2026.

He explained that the MBG Programme Consolidation Meeting in Bangka Belitung Province aims to optimise the MBG Programme to create healthy, intelligent, high-quality human resources and encourage local economic growth, thereby strengthening Indonesia’s economy.

“We are here to remind each other. Let us implement the MBG Programme optimally to improve the quality of human resources and the economy of the community in this region,” he said.

According to him, if there are technical errors in the implementation of the MBG Programme in the field, they will certainly be mitigated, and these mitigation steps are carried out gradually to enhance the quality of the MBG Programme implementation in the region.

“We continue to monitor this SPPG and if violations are found, it will be temporarily deactivated to optimise this MBG Programme,” he stated.

He mentioned that the deactivated SPPG is due to several causes, including prominent incidents related to MBG consumption caused by SPPG violating the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by BGN.

This SOP violation, for example, involves cooking a chicken meat menu prepared at 5:00 PM WIB, then cooked and distributed and consumed by beneficiaries the next day at 8:00 AM, which already violates the SOP, so the SPPG is temporarily deactivated for repairs.

In addition, the facilities and infrastructure in the SPPG kitchen that do not meet the technical specifications set by BGN.

“For SPPG whose kitchens do not meet the specified specifications, temporary suspension action is taken for repairs. If it already meets the specified specifications, the SPPG must submit a letter to BGN to resume operations,” he said.