March 18, 2025
JAKARTA – The government has insisted on resuming President Prabowo Subianto‘s flagship free nutritious meal program during the fasting month of Ramadan by making some adjustments to the menu including by providing ultra-processed foods for school children, drawing criticism from nutritionists.
In the first months of the program’s implementation since January, the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), which is responsible for the food distribution, incorporated what appeared to be healthy foods into the students’ lunch boxes, such as rice, protein sources like cooked chicken or fish, fruit and vegetables.
But since earlier this month, which marked the beginning of the fasting month for the majority of the country’s population, the BGN opted to go with ultra-processed foods that have a long shelf life, such as instant cereal, as well as packaged bread and milk.
The move has been highly criticized by nutritionists as such food and beverages have undergone extensive processing and contain added ingredients like preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, which have been linked to an increased risk of various chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
“Providing packaged milk [for the free meals program] becomes ironic since it’s actually a glucose-based drink containing only 30 percent milk. [It’s also important to] note that 80 percent of Indonesians are actually lactose intolerant,” said Jakarta-based nutritionist and doctor Tan Shot Yen.
Read also: Indonesia launches ambitious free-meal program to combat stunting
Tan added that while it’s important to provide a menu that has a long shelf life, processed foods should not be an option considering Indonesia has many kinds of non-perishable foods such as otak-otak (fish cake) and lemper (steamed sticky rice with a beef or chicken filling).
She warned that providing kids with processed foods might affect their perception of nutritious foods and it might also become a bad habit.
Separately, a nutritionist from Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University, Toto Sudargo, suggested a simple variety of food during Ramadan, noting it should be safe and edible within 12 hours.
Both nutritionists agreed that the government should have a clear monitoring system to ensure the sustainability of the program.
BGN head Dadan Hindayana said his agency has been conducting daily evaluations with 726 partnered kitchens across the country.
“We evaluate [the program] every evening to make improvements [in terms of menu and food distribution],” Dadan said, responding to the program’s critics. However, he stopped short of commenting on the ultra-processed foods.
‘Happy’ recipients
Despite wide criticism from the public, the program’s implementation in the field does not seem to have been disturbed, with school children saying they are happy with the menu provided.
The Jakarta Post visited West Jakarta’s Barunawati elementary school last week to see the students receiving packaged milk and biscuits, dates and boiled eggs in their lunch boxes. As many of the students were fasting, they were told to bring the food home and eat it later in the evening.
“I’m fasting today. In the evening [when breaking my fast] I’ll drink the milk first, it’s my favorite, then I’ll eat the biscuits,” first grader Zea said on Wednesday, adding that she is happy with the free meals.
Her classmate Harun shared a similar view, saying that he is always happy waiting for the free meals.
“I love [packaged] milk the most. I’ve always loved the food and we usually get fruit also,” said the 6-year-old, referring to the lunch menu he usually had before Ramadan.
Read also: Free meals program faces multiple hiccups in first month of rollout
Barunawati elementary school headmaster Untung Suripto said the school has been in close coordination with the BGN and its partner kitchen in Palmerah, West Jakarta, particularly for discussing the distribution mechanism.
“We follow the government’s nutritionists,” Untung said, saying that the school can’t intervene in the agency’s decision regarding the menu options.
Dadan from the BGN said on Monday that at least 1,000 kitchens had joined the program to provide nutritious food for school children, in an attempt to address stunting, which affects 21.5 percent of children across the archipelago. The government aims to reduce the rate to five percent by 2045, a century after its independence.
“Today, [we] have reached around 3 million children, and it’s targeted that by the end of this year, the number of recipients will reach 82.9 million,” Dadan said, as quoted by kompas.com.
The free meals, as one of President Prabowo’s key programs, initially received an allocation of Rp 71 trillion for this year. But the budget could rise by up to Rp 100 trillion following the President’s instructions for a sweeping austerity measure across ministries and state agencies. The number of beneficiaries is targeted to increase from 17 million to 82.9 million in 2025.