INDONESIA – More than 360 people fell ill in the town of Sragen, Central Java, after consuming school lunches, an official said on Thursday, in what is the largest food poisoning case to hit President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals program.
Since its launch in January, the program has been marred by mass food poisoning incidents across the archipelago, affecting more than 1,000 people.
Sragen government chief Sigit Pamungkas told Reuters that 365 people fell ill and that a food sample was being tested in a laboratory. The government would cover the cost of any necessary medical treatment. Wizdan Ridho Abimanyu, a ninth grader at Gemolong 1 Middle School, told Reuters he was woken at night by sharp stomach pain, accompanied by a headache and diarrhoea. He suspected food poisoning after seeing his schoolmates’ social media posts describing similar symptoms.
The likely contaminated lunch included turmeric rice, omelette ribbons, fried tempeh, cucumber and lettuce salad, sliced apple, and a box of milk. The meal had been cooked in a central kitchen and distributed to several schools. “We have asked to temporarily stop the food distribution from that kitchen until the lab results are back,” Sigit said.
The government’s National Nutrition Agency, which oversees the program, has raised kitchen operation and delivery standards in the aftermath of previous food poisoning cases, its chief Dadan Hindayana told Reuters.
The free meals program has so far expanded to more than 15 million recipients, with authorities aiming to reach 83 million by the end of the year, at a total budget of 171 trillion rupiah ($10.62 billion). In a separate case in West Java in May, more than 200 students fell ill, and laboratory tests found the food had been contaminated with Salmonella and E. coli bacteria, according to media reports. (CNN)
