Jakarta. The government is planning to prohibit cooking of the free meals before 12 a.m. in a new presidential regulation as Indonesia tries to prevent kids from falling sick.

According to the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), the government has drafted a presidential regulation to improve the governance of the free meal rollout, including on the cooking time.

“As a case in point, the public kitchen is no longer allowed to cook before 12 a.m. They must cook the meals at 2 a.m.,” Nanik S Deyang, the deputy head of BGN, said in Jakarta on Tuesday, as reported by the state news agency Antara.

The regulation will also lay down the details on the cooking order, prioritizing the students that will likely consume the meals earlier. BGN will also take action against the public kitchens that fail to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“To prevent any unwanted things, we will take action and close the kitchens until we finish the evaluations. We have closed 112 public kitchens,” Nanik said.

BGN’s investigations also revealed that many kitchens still lacked air conditioning, potentially causing the meals to get spoiled. BGN will also require kitchens to have their flooring epoxy-coated to prevent the spread of germs.

“The area to wash the food trays must also be separated from those for vegetables and other things,” Nanik said.

BGN chief Dadan Hindayana recently told the press that the presidential regulation on the free meal rollout was ready, and only waiting to be published. 

The free meal program has fed around 36.8 million individuals, including school children, expectany mothers, and toddlers. As of Oct. 20, Indonesia has set up over 12,500 kitchens across the archipelago to prepare the meals. As of early October, the rollout has witnessed around 11,660 food poisoning cases, the Health Ministry reported.

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