School Holidays: National Nutrition Agency to Evaluate Thousands of Problematic Kitchens

The Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme will be suspended during the school holiday period, spanning 18 days from 22 June to 13 July 2026. During this period, the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) will conduct a thorough evaluation of thousands of Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG), or MBG kitchens, deemed not yet compliant with operational standards.

BGN Deputy Chair Agustina Arumsari stated that the evaluation follows the discovery of various issues in the field, ranging from kitchen quality to operational governance that is considered inconsistent. “We have been conducting extensive monitoring. Perhaps you have also seen on social media that some kitchens do not meet the standards. Those are the ones we will evaluate,” Sari said at the BGN Office in Central Jakarta on Thursday (18 June).

She explained that 27,820 SPPG units will be inspected one by one, covering kitchen conditions, service quality, and the presence of beneficiaries served by each SPPG. If a kitchen is found to be incapable of operating optimally or lacks sufficient beneficiaries, BGN is open to transferring services to another SPPG deemed more prepared and of higher quality. “If there are indeed units that cannot operate or can be transferred to a nearby, higher-quality SPPG, we will certainly do that,” she said.

Sari claimed that this evaluation differs from those conducted by previous BGN leadership. Initially, the existence of a kitchen was the starting point for planning, but now the agency first determines who the beneficiaries are. “We do not want the focus to be solely on the SPPG. Now, we first confirm the beneficiaries, then who will supply their needs. Only after that do we follow the efficiency process,” she explained.

Sari also highlighted several technical policy changes from the previous period that contributed to the emergence of substandard kitchens. One such change involved reducing the kitchen area standard from 400 square metres to 150 square metres. “Changes like that have resulted in kitchens that do not meet the standards for producing good quality food,” she said.

Therefore, the school holiday period until mid-July will be used by BGN to carry out gradual improvements. The evaluation results will serve as the basis for determining whether an SPPG can still be upgraded or needs restructuring to maintain the quality of the Free Nutritious Meals programme across Indonesia.