BGN temporarily closes five SPPGs in Nabire over wastewater treatment facilities

Nabire (ANTARA) - The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has temporarily closed the operations of five Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPGs) in Nabire Regency, Central Papua, to ensure that the wastewater treatment installations (IPALs) meet the applicable standards.

Nabire Regional Coordinator for BGN, Marsel Asyerem, stated in Nabire on Thursday that this step is a form of BGN’s commitment to maintaining cleanliness and food safety in the implementation of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme.

The five kitchens last served MBG distributions to schools on 1 April and have since been temporarily halted until they are declared compliant with the IPAL standards set by BGN.

According to Marsel, the closure sanction was imposed because the SPPG management had not yet equipped the IPAL facilities in accordance with regulations, despite warnings given since early March.

“We issued warnings well in advance, with a deadline of 31 March. However, some still failed to meet the standards, resulting in temporary closure sanctions,” he said.

He hopes that the SPPG managers can promptly make improvements so that nutrition fulfilment services to students can resume optimally.

The SPPGs can utilise the school holiday period from 2 to 6 April for repairs, with expectations of resuming operations on 7 April if all requirements are met.

Marsel explained that all SPPG kitchen facilities provided by partners must be verified by BGN, including IPAL completeness, as these facilities are rented and used in the MBG programme.

“Therefore, BGN must ensure that all facilities meet operational standards to maintain service quality,” he said.

He added that out of 12 SPPGs operating in Nabire, five are currently temporarily suspended, while the other seven continue to operate and serve the MBG programme.

The temporary closure of these five SPPGs is also a follow-up to recommendations from the Nabire MBG Acceleration Task Force, which were then submitted to BGN headquarters for final approval.