BGN to Halt Free Nutritious Meals Programme During School Holidays

The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) will halt the distribution of Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) during the school holidays. Deputy Head of BGN Agustina Arumsari stated that this period will be used to evaluate the programme’s implementation to ensure it is better targeted and does not cause state budget waste.

“It will stop during the school holidays, while we make improvements,” she said after a meeting with House of Representatives Commission IX in Jakarta on Monday, 15 June 2026.

Arumsari explained that the improvements will begin with validating beneficiary data, the number of Nutrition Fulfilment Service Unit (SPPG) kitchens, cooking procedures, and kitchen governance. It will be ensured that beneficiaries are not schoolchildren from affluent families, kitchen owners are not affiliated with BGN employees, and incentives to SPPGs will no longer be a flat rate of Rp 6 million per day.

Budget realisation by BGN as of May 2026 reached Rp 88.15 trillion, with 63.13 million beneficiaries. The latest recorded number of SPPGs stands at 29,670 units.

“Our focus is the beneficiaries, then we talk about kitchens,” Arumsari said.

Previously, MBG targeted all groups of schoolchildren, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers. However, food distribution still faced a number of problems, both in terms of quality and the budget used.

Arumsari said the Ministry of Health will also carry out nutritional interventions within this programme. Further technical details will be announced by BGN.