More than 1,700 students and teachers in Indonesia have fallen ill after consuming free meals provided under a government programme, following fresh cases reported in Central Java.
A school principal on Thursday said 777 students and teachers at a senior high school in Lasem, Central Java, suffered food poisoning after eating the meals earlier on Wednesday.
The figure comprised 752 students and 25 teachers, who developed diarrhoea and vomiting, the principal, Juhartutik, said.
She said the students were served grilled chicken, some of which a food taster found to be “slimy” before distribution.
“The slimy ones had already been set aside. The kitchen operator said the food was cooked at 3 a.m. and it was eaten at noon,” she said.
Juhartutik said most of those affected were sent home, while Joko Paryanto, a local doctor who treated the victims, said 15 students and teachers had been hospitalised.
In separate incidents in three other locations this week, 950 people also fell ill after consuming meals linked to the programme, a member of a parliamentary commission overseeing health said.
The latest cases bring the number of people affected by suspected food poisoning linked to the programme to more than 1,700 in one week.
President Prabowo Subianto had launched the multibillion dollar free meal programme in 2026 to improve nutrition for tens of millions of children.
The programme, however, has been dogged by allegations of corruption and a series of mass food poisoning incidents.
Earlier, on Tuesday, 664 students fell ill in Sidoarjo, East Java, according to local official Herawati Yuwantina.
In two other incidents on Wednesday, 49 people in the East Java city and 237 in the West Sumatra region suffered food poisoning, lawmaker Charles Honoris said.
Charles, a member of a political party outside the government coalition, said on Instagram that the incidents were not isolated.
“This is a failure of the system,” he said
