{"id":521519,"date":"2026-08-14T10:27:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T14:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/more-than-250-children-hospitalized-in-indonesia-after-new-poisoning-from-free-school-menu\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:27:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T14:27:35","slug":"more-than-250-children-hospitalized-in-indonesia-after-new-poisoning-from-free-school-menu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/international\/more-than-250-children-hospitalized-in-indonesia-after-new-poisoning-from-free-school-menu\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 250 children hospitalized in Indonesia after new poisoning from free school menu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jakarta.<\/strong>– Indonesian authorities reported this Friday that 269 minors have been hospitalized on the island of Sumatra (northwest of the archipelago) due to a new mass food poisoning linked to the controversial free school meals program launched in January of last year by the president, the former military officer Prabowo Subianto.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The head of the Health Office of the Karo regency (North Sumatra),<\/a> Immanuel Sinuhaji, indicated this Friday that the outbreak occurred the day before in two schools in the city of Berastagi, in that area, while the authorities, who have been varying the number of affected people throughout the day, reported that “there is nothing alarming about the state” of the students, aged between 10 and 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be interested in:<\/strong> Two children die in La Vega<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Prabowo government, whose policies are facing increasing scrutiny, launched the school meal program more than a year and a half ago, more than 40,700 children have been poisoned in around 300 outbreaks, according to official figures, although independent organizations maintain that there could be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative, which is endowed with 28 billion dollars and has been questioned since its launch for being financed to the detriment of other public programs, has so far fed around 30 million students between 6 and 18 years old and aims to reach 80 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The incident in the Karo regency reminds us once again of the need to rigorously supervise every stage of food service. Hundreds of students have been affected,” acknowledged the head of the Indonesian National Nutrition Agency (BGN) today, Sudaryono, without providing further details on the reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nutrition agency stated that “administrative measures” have been taken regarding the incident, such as the closure of the kitchen unit that prepared the menus that allegedly caused the new outbreak and the dismissal of its head, while the Karo Health Office analyzes food samples, without revealing which ones caused the illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Number of intoxicated children grows <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The number of food poisoning cases under the free meal program \u2013one of Prabowo’s electoral promises during his 2024 campaign\u2013 continues to grow without a thorough investigation having been launched to determine the causes, while families call for improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the UN, the main child nutrition problem in Indonesia -a vast and young developing archipelago of nearly 290 million inhabitants- is stunting, with more than 4.5 million children under five years of age affected, 21% of the total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, one in every 12 children under five years of age is below the recommended weight for their height, according to the United Nations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"El
El programa de comidas escolares gratuitas de Indonesia es una de las principales promesas del presidente Prabowo Subianto, quien asumi\u00f3 el cargo en octubre de 2024. La iniciativa comenz\u00f3 a implementarse en enero de 2025 con el objetivo de mejorar la nutrici\u00f3n infantil, reducir la malnutrici\u00f3n y apoyar a las familias de menores ingresos mediante la entrega de alimentos a estudiantes.

El proyecto tiene una escala ambiciosa. El Gobierno pretende ampliar progresivamente la cobertura hasta alcanzar a unos 80 millones de beneficiarios, desde ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os hasta estudiantes de secundaria. Para financiarlo, las autoridades han destinado miles de millones de d\u00f3lares, convirti\u00e9ndolo en uno de los programas sociales m\u00e1s importantes de la actual administraci\u00f3n.

La iniciativa responde a un problema nutricional que afecta a una parte importante de la poblaci\u00f3n infantil indonesia. De acuerdo con Naciones Unidas, uno de los principales desaf\u00edos es el retraso en el crecimiento, que afecta a millones de menores de cinco a\u00f1os. Tambi\u00e9n existe preocupaci\u00f3n por los casos de ni\u00f1os cuyo peso se encuentra por debajo de lo recomendado para su estatura.

Sin embargo, la expansi\u00f3n del programa ha estado acompa\u00f1ada de cuestionamientos relacionados con la seguridad y calidad de los alimentos. Los sucesivos episodios de intoxicaci\u00f3n han generado preocupaci\u00f3n entre padres y organizaciones, especialmente porque los alimentos son preparados en cocinas que deben atender diariamente a grandes cantidades de estudiantes.

Los incidentes han obligado a las autoridades a cerrar temporalmente algunas unidades de preparaci\u00f3n de alimentos y adoptar medidas administrativas contra responsables de los servicios. Adem\u00e1s, se han realizado an\u00e1lisis de muestras para intentar determinar qu\u00e9 alimentos o procesos pudieron provocar los s\u00edntomas entre los estudiantes.

El debate tambi\u00e9n alcanza el costo del programa. Aunque el Gobierno lo considera una inversi\u00f3n estrat\u00e9gica para mejorar la salud y el rendimiento escolar de cada ni\u00f1o, sus cr\u00edticos cuestionan el volumen de recursos p\u00fablicos destinados a la iniciativa y reclaman mayores controles antes de ampliar la cobertura.

El nuevo brote registrado en Sumatra, con cientos de ni\u00f1os hospitalizados, vuelve a poner bajo escrutinio el programa y plantea interrogantes sobre los controles sanitarios aplicados en la preparaci\u00f3n, transporte y distribuci\u00f3n de los alimentos.

Para las autoridades, uno de los principales retos ser\u00e1 lograr que el crecimiento del programa vaya acompa\u00f1ado de est\u00e1ndares estrictos de higiene, supervisi\u00f3n permanente y capacidad para responder r\u00e1pidamente ante posibles intoxicaciones. El objetivo de alimentar a decenas de millones de ni\u00f1os supone una compleja operaci\u00f3n log\u00edstica en un pa\u00eds formado por miles de islas y con grandes diferencias entre sus regiones.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Indonesia’s free school meals program<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Indonesia’s free school meals<\/strong> program is one of the main promises of President Prabowo Subianto<\/strong>, who took office in October 2024. The initiative began implementation in January 2025 with the goal of improving child nutrition, reducing malnutrition, and supporting lower-income families by providing food to students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project has an ambitious scale. The Government intends to progressively expand coverage to reach about 80 million beneficiaries<\/strong>, from small children to high school students. To fund it, the authorities have allocated billions of dollars, making it one of the most important social programs of the current administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative responds to a nutritional problem that affects a significant portion of the Indonesian child population. According to the United Nations, one of the main challenges is stunting<\/strong>, which affects millions of children under five years of age. There is also concern regarding cases of children<\/strong> whose weight is below what is recommended for their height.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the program’s expansion has been accompanied by questions related to food safety and quality<\/strong>. Successive episodes of food poisoning have generated concern among parents and organizations, especially because the food is prepared in kitchens that must serve large numbers of students daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incidents have forced authorities to temporarily close some food preparation units and take administrative measures against those responsible for the services. In addition, sample analyses have been carried out to try to determine which foods or processes could have caused the symptoms among the students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debate also reaches the cost of the program. Although the Government considers it a strategic investment to improve the health and school performance of every child<\/strong>, its critics question the volume of public resources allocated to the initiative and demand greater controls before expanding coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new outbreak recorded in Sumatra<\/strong>, with hundreds of children<\/strong> hospitalized, once again puts the program under scrutiny and raises questions about the health controls applied in the preparation, transport, and distribution of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the authorities, one of the main challenges will be to ensure that the program’s growth is accompanied by strict hygiene standards, permanent supervision, and the ability to respond quickly to potential cases of food poisoning<\/strong>. The goal of feeding tens of millions of children<\/strong> involves a complex logistical operation in a country made up of thousands of islands and with significant differences between its regions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jakarta.– Indonesian authorities reported this Friday that 269 minors have been hospitalized on the island of Sumatra (northwest of the archipelago) due to a new mass food poisoning linked to the controversial free school meals program launched in January of last year by the president, the former military officer Prabowo Subianto. The head of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":521520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[40345,43007],"class_list":["post-521519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international","tag-children","tag-intoxicated"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2bFB","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/images-13.jpg","dum_api":{"author_name":"EFE","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-EFE_logo.svg-96x96.png","categories_name":["International"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/images-13.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}