Jakarta. The Indonesian government is strengthening oversight of its free nutritious meal program by deploying nutrition experts to help ensure food safety, following a series of mass food poisoning cases that have affected thousands of beneficiaries.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Sunday that the experts would support quality control in meal preparation. 

“Nutritionists are being prepared. For now, they will assist in monitoring food quality,” Budi told reporters after a coordination meeting at his office, which was also attended by Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian, Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Head Taruna Ikrar, and National Nutrition Agency (BGN) head Dadan Hindayana. He did not provide details on the rollout timeline.

The BGN reported 70 food poisoning incidents between January and September 25, 2025, affecting 5,914 people. The largest outbreaks were recorded in Bandar Lampung (503 cases), Lebong in Bengkulu (467), West Bandung in West Java (411), Banggai Islands in Central Sulawesi (339), and Kulon Progo in Yogyakarta (305). While no fatalities were reported, the cases have raised alarms as most recipients of the program are schoolchildren, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers.

Budi said the government would accelerate standardization of the free meal initiative. Every local nutrition service unit must hold hygiene and sanitation certification. However, he stressed that certification alone was insufficient, and tighter monitoring would cover the entire food preparation chain -- from sourcing ingredients to cooking and serving. “We have agreed to work together to prevent future food poisoning incidents,” he added.

The program, launched in January, has so far reached around 31 million beneficiaries, according to Dadan. He acknowledged that many poisoning incidents occurred in newly established service units with inexperienced staff. Other contributing factors included poor-quality ingredients, unsafe water, and violations of standard operating procedures.

President Prabowo Subianto, who returned from an overseas trip last weekend, summoned Dadan to the presidential palace for a briefing on the program’s implementation and safety lapses. The president issued several directives to prevent further incidents: all service units must employ trained cooks, conduct rapid food-quality testing, sterilize food trays, install water filters, and be equipped with CCTV linked to a central monitoring system.