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Bacteria Infect School Meals in Indonesia



September 5, 2026    The Government of Indonesia has been forced to close school feeding programs after 5,482 people were poisoned in 71 incidents just between July 22 and early September 2026, involving food from 62 kitchens.

The problem of food safety in the government’s Makan Bergizi Gratis (MBG, “Free Nutritious Meals”) program has grown worse this past week as almost 2,000 people fell ill between Tuesday and Thursday in suspected poisonings , including more than 770 at one Central Java high school.

Cumulative illnesses linked to the Free Nutritious Meals program since its 2025 launch now exceed 50,000. Authorities are reviewing about 27,000 distribution centers and have closed more than 800 kitchens for sanitation violations.

The evidence increasingly points to multiple bacterial contaminants rather than one single infectious disease.  This is a problem of  bacterial food contamination associated with inadequate temperature control, prolonged holding of cooked food, contaminated water, sanitation failures and poor food handling.   A March 2026 analysis in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia reviewing MBG outbreaks through the end of 2025 identified E. coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella and Staphylococcus among confirmed biological agents.  At a school in Lasem, Central Java, 752 students and 25 teachers became sick. Their grilled chicken had reportedly been cooked at about 3 a.m. and eaten around noon — roughly nine hours later. A food taster reportedly noticed that some chicken had become “slimy” before distribution.

There have been no deaths reported.  The illnesses appear so far to be mostly self-limited, but the scale has produced substantial hospitalization. In the early-September Sidoarjo episode, 512 students had received medical care at one point: 80 remained hospitalized, 312 had been discharged and 120 remained under observation. In the Lasem/Rembang cluster, 15 students and teachers were hospitalized among the 777 affected.

–  Contributed to Hunger Notes by Steven Hansch

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