Cheese and Butter Proposed as Nutritious Alternatives for Free Meal Programme to Solve Distribution Issues

The government’s Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme is being encouraged to consider domestic natural cheese and artisan butter as viable menu alternatives to fresh milk. The proposal aims to address the logistical hurdles of distributing perishable fresh milk across Indonesia’s vast archipelago.

Founder of Mazaraat Artisan Cheese, Muhammad Najmi (Jamie), explained that natural cheese is essentially concentrated milk, with 100 grammes of cheese containing the nutritional equivalent of one litre of fresh milk. He noted that cheese’s solid form and long shelf life make it an effective solution for overcoming the weaknesses in the country’s cold chain infrastructure, which often leads to fresh milk spoiling during transit. ‘It is much easier to send ten kilogrammes of cheese than one hundred litres of milk. The volume is smaller, the nutrition is the same or even higher, and cheese can last up to a year,’ Jamie stated during a discussion on the Hendri Satrio Official YouTube channel.

Beyond solving distribution issues, the inclusion of local cheese and butter in the MBG programme is seen as a potential economic stimulus for domestic dairy farmers. By encouraging cooperatives to move up the value chain and process raw milk into high-value goods, farmers could escape the cycle of selling raw milk at low prices.

Ardani Yusuf Prawira, Founder of Naaya Artisan Butter, stressed the importance of government education to ensure the right products are selected. He cautioned against using commercial processed cheese, which often contains only 10 to 20 percent real cheese mixed with starches and other fillers. ‘We are used to eating products that are not 100 percent cheese. The government must ensure that the MBG programme uses whole, natural cheese to truly benefit children’s health,’ Ardani said.