Zulhas Speaks Candidly: Numerous Problems at BGN
The government has begun to scale back several agendas within the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme as evaluations are currently being conducted at the National Nutrition Agency (BGN). Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan, revealed that many issues must be resolved before the programme can be expanded further.
Recently, the management of the MBG programme has faced various challenges, ranging from allegations of irregularities to incidents of food poisoning in several regions. According to Zulhas, the government’s primary focus at this time is not to expand the programme or build new facilities, but rather to ensure that the existing system can be rectified first.
“The situation is that there are many problems within the BGN. Therefore, we are focusing on internal improvements first; let us see. Meanwhile, other new activities are being halted for now,” said Zulhas at the House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday (22/06/2026).
One of the primary focuses of this rectification is the management of the food provider kitchens, which serve as the spearhead of the MBG implementation. The government assesses that food safety standards must be tightened to ensure that incidents endangering the health of beneficiaries do not recur.
“Furthermore, the governance must also be improved. The kitchens, for instance, will be audited. Even if this only affects one or two children, food poisoning must not happen again. Once this has been rectified, we will proceed with the MBG programme,” he stated.
As part of the oversight function, the Chief of Staff to the President, General (Ret.) Dudung Abdurachman, has conducted sudden inspections (sidak) at several Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG). From direct field observations, the KSP found that many service units have already adopted operational standards very effectively.
“From these inspections, the KSP found SPPGs that are operating according to standards, ranging from kitchen cleanliness, food ingredient quality, food safety, and distribution accuracy, to the service provided to beneficiaries. These standardised SPPGs can serve as models, so that good practices in the field can be replicated in other regions, while still adjusting to the specific conditions and needs of each area,” explained Dudung at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, on Friday (19/06/2026).