JAKARTA, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The head of Indonesia's Nutrition Agency, which runs the country's free meals programme, said on Thursday that his agency "desperately" needs to prevent food poisoning among the programme's recipients.
• Sudaryono acknowledged food poisoning was still the main problem to be tackled
• A key campaign promise of President Prabowo Subianto launched in January 2025, the scheme has been marred by a series of problems, including cases of food poisoning and allegations of corruption
• As of September, at least 57,000 recipients had contracted food poisoning, government data showed
• "We desperately need to solve this immediately so that not a single child is poisoned. That is our top priority," Sudaryono said at an event
• The rate of food poisoning per one million servings currently stood at 3.6, which was relatively high compared to 0.1 in the United States and 0.8 in Japan, he said
• He said he aimed to bring it in line with the US by strengthening oversight and allowing the agency to monitor CCTV footage from nearly 27,000 kitchens, which would improve worker supervision and hygiene standards
• All kitchens will be forced to purchase seven commodities, including rice, eggs, beef and chicken, on a market platform to be launched by the agency next month, he said
• The platform aims to ensure small farmers and fishermen benefit from the free meals programme, and not just large suppliers
• This year's budget for the programme was cut by 44 trillion rupiah ($2.42 billion) from 268 trillion rupiah, he said
• The agency has opened 1,460 kitchens in remote areas and areas with high stunting rates, he added
($1 = 18,175 rupiah)
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by David Stanway)