Shadow Cabinet Criticises Sudaryono's Appointment to National Nutrition Agency
The appointment of Sudaryono as head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), replacing Nanik S. Deyang, has drawn sharp criticism. Irma Hidayana, the shadow cabinet’s Health Minister, believes the change of official reflects the true direction and purpose of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme.
“The appointment of Sudaryono, who has no expertise in nutrition and public health, increasingly shows that the MBG programme was not genuinely created to solve the nutritional and health problems of its target beneficiaries,” said Irma in an official statement on Thursday, 23 July 2026.
Before being sworn in, Sudaryono served as Deputy Minister of Agriculture. Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi revealed that the main reason for his appointment was his involvement in formulating the technical aspects of the MBG programme from a food supply chain perspective — rather than from the standpoint of public health or food safety for beneficiaries.
Calls for an Evidence-Based Approach
For Irma, the absence of a nutrition background at the helm of the BGN is not merely an administrative detail that can be excused. She stressed that a massive-scale nutrition intervention programme such as MBG should be led by progressive experts in order to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases and boost long-term productivity.
“This intervention can only be carried out through public health strategies, including the use of evidence-based nutrition and public health policy to ensure effectiveness, efficiency and accurate targeting,” said the founder of LaporSehat, who is also the initiator of the independent MBG Watch monitoring platform.
This demand is grounded in poor field data. Between October 2025 and January 2026, MBG Watch received 535 citizen reports, of which 20 were direct cases of food poisoning. Other findings showed a recurring pattern: foul-smelling, slimy and undercooked food was still distributed to schools, alongside a dominance of ultra-processed foodstuffs.
Meanwhile, data from the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), based on media monitoring, recorded that as many as 12,658 children fell victim to MBG-related food poisoning across 38 provinces throughout 2025.
Irma believes the string of poisoning cases proves that the MBG programme has been run without regard for the public health ethical principle of non-maleficence (do no harm).
“This ethical principle requires that all nutrition programmes must be safe and have no adverse impact on beneficiaries. Only progressive public health and nutrition experts possess this principle,” she said.