Jakarta. The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) will rely on random food sample testing to monitor Indonesia’s free nutritious meals (MBG) program in 2027 after lawmakers approved less than half of its requested additional budget.

BPOM had requested Rp 1.2 trillion ($67.64 million) in additional funding to oversee the program, but the House of Representatives’ Commission IX approved only Rp 509 billion.

“I believe we requested Rp 1.2 trillion specifically to oversee the MBG program. But in the end, only Rp 509 billion was approved,” BPOM head Taruna Ikrar told reporters at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Thursday.

The agency had initially planned to assign one BPOM employee to each MBG kitchens (SPPG) to monitor food safety and prevent food poisoning incidents.

With the smaller budget, however, BPOM has shifted to conducting random sample testing at SPPG facilities across the country.

Taruna said the agency had planned to collect 41,150 samples from approximately 27,000 SPPG facilities, with the target determined using the Yamane formula, a statistical method for calculating sample sizes.

“Regarding surveillance, particularly the target of 41,150 samples out of the approximately 27,000 SPPG facilities, we calculated the figure using a method called the Yamane formula,” he said.

Taruna added that BPOM had also sought additional funding for other budget items, but lawmakers had not approved those requests either.

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