Indonesia investigates more free meal poisoning cases

Indonesian authorities are investigating food poisoning cases involving nearly 700 children in Yogyakarta province this week, after students ate meals prepared under President Prabowo Subianto’s key free school meal programme, an official said. The school meal programme, rolled out in January, was a major election campaign promise from Prabowo, but some 15,000 children have fallen ill as of October 29, data from the non-governmental organisation known locally as JPPI showed. The JPPI has called for the programme to be suspended. Improper food storage and late delivery of cooked meals are often to blame for the poisoning, authorities have said. In the Indonesian region of Gunungkidul in Yogyakarta, some 660 students from two separate schools fell ill from poisoning after eating free school meals, regional head Endah Subekti Kuntariningsih said on her Instagram account on Wednesday. Dadan Hindayana, chief of the national nutrition agency (BGN) which runs the programme, told Reuter