Random Inspection by Deputy Head of National Nutrition Agency in West Bandung Reveals Unfit Buildings for Nutrition Service Units
The government faces a policy dilemma with no truly comfortable solution.
The Deputy Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) for Public Communication and Investigation, Nanik, discovered buildings unfit to serve as Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) kitchens during a random surprise inspection in West Bandung Regency and Cimahi City on Tuesday night, 7 April 2026.
“Last night, I found MBG kitchens in West Bandung and Cimahi that are unfit but have been operating for a long time as SPPG (Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units),” she stated during the Briefing and Evaluation for Satpel Heads, Nutrition Supervisors, and Cooks in West Java Province, held in West Bandung on Wednesday, 8 April 2026.
One of the kitchens highlighted by Nanik is the Tani Mulya 3 SPPG in Ngamprah Subdistrict, West Bandung. This MBG kitchen was repurposed from a three-storey house downwards. The ground floor below is used for entry and raw material preparation, the second floor for cooking, and the ground level for portioning.
“So the kitchen is like a cave going downwards, connected by steep stairs without handrails on the sides,” she said.
According to the Acting Chair of the MBG Programme Implementation Coordination Team, comprising 17 ministries, approving this three-storey downward house as an MBG kitchen is highly irregular. At the start of the MBG programme, the implementation guidelines for kitchens were very strict.
“In the past, even a 10 cm difference in floor height was not allowed. How could this pass?” she questioned.
Other kitchens—one in Colameng, Ngamprah, and two in Citeureup, Cimahi—are narrow and dirty. These three kitchens were also repurposed from residents’ homes with an area of only about 150 square metres. Because they come from residents’ homes, the SPPG kitchens follow the existing room shapes.
As a result, the portioning area is very narrow and inadequate, there are no kitchen equipment warehouses or portion storage warehouses, the food washing area is mixed, and so on. There is even an SPPG kitchen where the entry for food ingredients, entry for dirty portions, and exit for MBG dishes to be distributed to beneficiary schools all pass through the same door.
Due to the lack of space, lockers for volunteers are makeshift and cramped, while rest areas for the SPPG Head, Nutrition Supervisor, and Finance Supervisor are not provided. They are then accommodated in external boarding houses.
“This is then the reason why the SPPG Head, Nutrition Supervisor, and Finance Supervisor do not monitor the kitchen during cooking,” said Nanik.
According to Nanik, starting in 2026, the quality of the MBG Programme services will be further improved. In addition to food quality and human resources quality, kitchen quality will also be addressed. If previously all kitchens were uniformly given an incentive of 6 million, in the future it will be adjusted according to the size and quality of the kitchen.
“How can a good kitchen of 400 square metres be equated with a dirty and narrow one,” she said.