Prabowo Threatens to Shut Down Non-Compliant Free Nutritious Meal Kitchens
President Prabowo Subianto has highlighted service units for nutritional fulfilment (SPPG) that are not operating properly and correctly. Prabowo stated that free nutritious meal kitchens (MBG) not meeting standards will be closed.
According to the President, his administration is currently conducting certification of SPPG across Indonesia. If they wish to continue operating, they must meet various operational standards, such as cleanliness, food safety, and drinking water quality.
Prabowo stated that this process is part of efforts to standardise operations in his flagship MBG programme. “Standardisation. If it’s not right, close it, suspend it,” said Prabowo in a statement released by the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday evening, 19 March 2026.
Prabowo expressed this stance during a question-and-answer session in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, which took place from Wednesday evening until Thursday early morning. In that interview, Prabowo answered questions from several journalists and experts he invited to his residence.
Recently, Prabowo said, his subordinates have closed around 1,030 SPPG for violating operational provisions. Prabowo stated that the National Nutrition Agency, the implementer of MBG, continues to conduct field inspections. “Out of tens of thousands of kitchens, we have already closed more than a thousand,” he said.
Prabowo recounted that BGN executives, including staff, are among the officials he most frequently calls for reports. One of them is Deputy Head of BGN Nanik Sudaryanti Deyang, whom Prabowo described as fierce towards problematic MBG kitchens. “She’s very fierce. She keeps doing surprise inspections,” said Prabowo.
BGN previously temporarily halted operations of 1,512 SPPG on Java island. This temporary closure was carried out after BGN’s evaluation found several kitchens that had not met operational standards, including sanitation requirements and facility completeness.
Director of Monitoring and Supervision Region II of BGN Albertus Dony Dewantoro said the suspension is part of organising the MBG programme services. “There are 1,512 SPPG whose operations we have temporarily halted. This is a follow-up to the evaluation of meeting operational standards and facility and infrastructure requirements in several SPPG,” said Dony, quoted from Antara on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.
Dony said that thousands of these service units are spread across various provinces on Java island, including 50 units in DKI Jakarta, 62 units in Banten, 350 units in West Java, 54 units in Central Java, 788 units in East Java, and 208 units in the Special Region of Yogyakarta.