Free Nutritious Meals Allegedly Stale and Worm-Fooded in Four Lawangs, Organizers Guarantee to Fix It

PALEMBANG, KOMPAS – The Free Nutritious Meal Program, or MBG, in Empat Lawang Regency, South Sumatra, has finally resumed after assurances of improvements from the organizers. The police are also monitoring to ensure that the improvements are implemented consistently.

"We will continue to monitor the improvements that have been made. In principle, we strongly support MBG, which is a flagship program of President Prabowo Subianto. We want to ensure that this program runs well," said Adjunct Senior Commissioner Abdul Aziz Septiadi, Chief of the Empat Lawang Police Resort, during a press conference at the South Sumatra Regional Police Headquarters, Palembang, Tuesday (25/2/2025).

According to Abdul, monitoring must continue to be carried out. This is to ensure that the case of eight elementary school students experiencing stomach aches and vomiting after consuming MBG meals suspected to be spoiled and infested with maggots does not happen again. As is known, MBG was temporarily halted on Wednesday (19/2/2025) and Thursday (20/2/2025) following the incident where eight students suffered from stomach aches and vomiting after eating MBG. The students from SD Negeri 7 Tebing Tinggi, Empat Lawang, were rushed to the community health center.

The Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) of Empat Lawang then made several improvements in the provision and distribution of MBG menus. With the assurance of the organizers, the MBG program was resumed on Friday (21/2/2025).

Abdul continued, several forms of improvements guaranteed by the organizers include the faster delivery process of menus from the kitchen to schools. The goal is to ensure the menus remain fresh when received and consumed by the students. "From the results of yesterday's sudden inspection, we observed that the MBG organizers have made several improvements. Now, they are working faster than before, particularly in menu distribution," he stated.

According to Aziz, his party will continue to monitor to ensure that improvements proceed consistently. If a similar case were to recur, he added, it would create a negative image for the program. "The improvements are also useful to provide reassurance to the community. The aim is so that the public, both parents of students and the students themselves, do not feel traumatized or resistant to MBG," said Aziz.

Based on information received by Kompas, the MBG menu in Empat Lawang is provided by the Vieki Indira Foundation. The foundation is under the auspices of the Indonesian Catering Service Providers Association (PPJI) of South Sumatra. After the case of eight students of Tebing Tinggi 7 Elementary School who had stomach aches and vomited emerged, they are still trusted as the provider of the MBG menu in Empat Lawang.

Head of DPD PPJI South Sumatra Evie Hadenli suspected that there was an element of intent behind the discovery of the MBG menu which was allegedly stale and had worms. This is because they claimed to have followed the standard operating procedure (SOP) that was regulated, and the menu samples they kept were proven not to be stale or have worms.

On that basis, Evie when sending a message via Whatsapp, Monday (24/2/2025) stated that her party was trying to be stricter in supervising the process of distributing menus from the kitchen to schools. "The evaluation (from yesterday's incident), the food must still be awaited until it is truly safe. What is certain is that the security of food distribution is being tightened even more. The food is really ensured to reach the recipient and is proven by the handover documentation," she explained.

Regarding the development of the case, Aziz said that his party is still in the development stage of the investigation. The authorities have asked for information from a number of witnesses. So far, there have been six witnesses, including the kitchen, food delivery, and food recipients at school. In the near future, they will also ask for information from the foundation.

Furthermore, the police are still waiting for the results of the laboratory tests on the MBG menu samples on the second day that were received by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BBPOM) in Palembang on Wednesday (2/19/2025) morning. The results of the laboratory tests are reported to be out this week. "Hopefully the laboratory tests will be completed soon. The results will answer the cause of yesterday's incident (the MBG menu is suspected of being stale and having worms)," said Aziz.

On that occasion, Aziz asked all parties not to speculate on the cause of the MBG menu incident which was allegedly stale and wormy. Because, the police investigation is still ongoing. On the other hand, the case must be proven with data and facts. "We ask that no one speculate so as not to cause things that are detrimental to all parties," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana at the Agrinnovation Conference and the 2025 National Working Meeting of Young Farmers at the Jakarta Convention Center Senayan, Jakarta, Saturday (22/2/2025), said that regarding the case of the MBG menu in Empat Lawang which allegedly contained maggots or worms, that was impossible.

Because, maggots or caterpillars cannot live outside of food. Meanwhile, the video circulating shows maggots outside of food or scattered in food containers. "I am an entomologist (the science that studies insects and their relationship to humans, animals, plants, and the environment). So, I understand very well, it is impossible for maggots to live outside of omprengan (food containers)," said Dadan as broadcast on the Edufarmers Youtube channel.

Furthermore, Dadan explained, his party always keeps samples of food that has been distributed. From the menu sample on the day the news emerged that the MBG menu in Empat Lawang was suspected of having maggots, the local SPPG did not find any maggots in all the menus provided.

If there are maggots (outside the food), it is definitely dead.

Why is that, it is because they always maintain cleanliness. "If there are maggots (outside the food), it must have died. Then, when there are maggots on papaya fruit, it is impossible for the maggots to come out because they will definitely continue to eat inside the fruit. However, the maggots were found outside the fruit," he said.

Therefore, Dadan said, his party must be more vigilant. The way to do this is by improving the SOP. Usually, SPPG only keeps menu samples for 24 hours as evidence if something unwanted happens. Now, SPPG is asked to document the menu every time it is sent, either by videoing or photographing it.

The documentation will be evidence if a case like Empat Lawang happens again. "If there are videos and photos, we can prove that suddenly when we arrive at school, there are maggots in the menu or omprengan. That means there is something abnormal," he said.

Regardless, according to Dadan, all events that occur are evaluation materials to continue improving their SOP. "After providing services in the morning, in the afternoon we hold a meeting with all SPPGs throughout Indonesia. The goal is to continue to improve our standards. So, this program is very controlled," he said.