Zulhas to Fast-Track Overhaul of Free Nutritious Meals Programme Within a Month

Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan, known as Zulhas, has stated that the government is committed to restructuring the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) Programme within the next month. He made the remarks during a discussion on improving MBG service quality held at the Coordinating Ministry for Food office in Jakarta. “We need one month for restructuring,” Zulhas said on Thursday, 11 June 2026. Within that month, Zulhas committed to organising and rectifying Nutrition Fulfilment Service Unit (SPPG) locations that had been traded, mapping schools receiving MBG, improving kitchen quality, and verifying reports on programme beneficiaries. “A comprehensive restructuring by the new Head of BGN and the new management is needed to fix this very important programme,” he stated. The overhaul of the MBG programme is the government’s response to various problems that occurred during its implementation. Zulhas acknowledged that these issues had drawn the attention of President Prabowo Subianto. “At one point, the President finally heard and has decided to replace the management with a new one,” Zulhas said. Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Nanik S. Deyang, stated that her agency is implementing several budget efficiency measures to ensure the programme’s implementation does not burden state finances without altering the nutritional fulfilment targets for beneficiaries. The first step is a moratorium on opening new service points and kitchens. To date, there are 27,877 operational kitchen points based on virtual accounts, which will be reorganised to assess the suitability of service capacity against the number of beneficiaries in each region. According to her, BGN is also temporarily halting new kitchen registrations while mapping needs across various regions. This restructuring is being carried out because the distribution of kitchens is still concentrated on Java Island. The next step is refocusing beneficiaries so that nutritional interventions are more directed towards groups that genuinely need them. An evaluation is being conducted regarding the number of beneficiaries, currently recorded at around 63 million people. Furthermore, BGN will also strengthen supervision of service quality. In 2026, the programme’s focus is directed towards improving implementation quality, rather than merely chasing quantity. Evaluations will be conducted to ensure operating kitchens have met technical guidelines and possess suitable service capacity.