Nearly 2,000 fall ill in suspected food poisoning linked to Indonesia's free school meals program

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Nearly 2,000 people, most of them students, fell ill in suspected food poisoning outbreaks linked to President Prabowo Subianto ’s flagship Free Nutritious Meals program this week, raising fresh concerns about food safety as the government rapidly expands the multibillion-dollar initiative nationwide, officials said Saturday.

The incidents, reported between Tuesday and Thursday in East Java, Central Java, West Sumatra, Aceh and South Sulawesi, affected about 1,950 students, teachers and Islamic boarding school pupils who became sick after consuming meals distributed under the government program, known by its Indonesian acronym MBG.

The outbreaks are the latest setback for Prabowo’s signature free meals program, which has been rolled out across the archipelago despite repeated food poisoning incidents and corruption allegations.

The largest outbreak was reported in Central Java’s Rembang regency, where 752 students and 25 teachers at State Senior High School 1 Lasem, suffered diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain after eating meals provided through the program, according to Rembang Health Office head Ali Syofi'i.

In Sidoarjo, East Java, 730 people, most of them students at the Manbaul Hikam Islamic boarding school, were affected in another suspected food poisoning incident linked to the program. Sidoarjo health office chief Lakhsmie Herawati Yuwantina said 706 victims had been discharged and were recovering at home.

Authorities also reported 276 suspected cases involving students and teachers in Agam regency, West Sumatra, where food distribution from the local nutrition service center was suspended pending an investigation. In Aceh’s Bener Meriah regency, 15 elementary school students and a school principal were treated after experiencing dizziness, nausea and other symptoms following a school meal.

Another 152 students from two junior high schools in Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, were treated at three hospitals after developing symptoms consistent with food poisoning. Regent Zadrak Tombeq ordered hospitals and health centers to prioritize treatment for the victims.

No deaths have been reported, and authorities are investigating the causes of the outbreaks.

The latest incidents add to a growing number of food poisoning cases linked to the program since its launch in January 2025. According to Health Ministry surveillance data as of Sept. 2, food poisoning incidents associated with MBG have affected 50,059 people in 560 cases across 245 districts and cities in 36 provinces.

In a hearing with the House's Commission IX overseeing health issues, National Nutrition Agency chief Sudaryono said internal reviews found that roughly 80% to 90% of previous food poisoning incidents were linked to failures to follow food safety procedures, including rules governing food storage, receipt of ingredients, temperature control and consumption deadlines.

“The recent incidents in Sidoarjo, Agam, Rembang and other areas have been a major blow for us,” said Sudaryono, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

He said the agency was tightening oversight of meal providers and reviewing about 27,000 meal distribution centers nationwide. Inspectors have found hundreds of allegedly fictitious facilities, while at least 833 kitchens have been shut down for failing to meet hygiene and sanitation standards.

The free meals program aims to combat malnutrition and reduce childhood stunting by providing meals to nearly 90 million students, toddlers and pregnant women. The initiative, expected to cost about $28 billion through 2029, is a cornerstone of Prabowo’s administration and one of his key campaign promises.

Students who fell ill allegedly due to food poisoning after consuming free meals at their school receive medical treatment at a hospital in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jusuf Aydin)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The attacks at Polish schools over the past week were “spontaneous acts” driven by the online “glorification of violence,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday.

Three attacks at schools in the Mazovian province in central Poland took place within four days this week, leaving one dead and many wounded, including children.

By Sunday morning, police had detained 117 people across Poland for carrying knives or other dangerous weapons, or for threatening to attack schools or fellow students. Some 64,000 schools were checked.

“We are not dealing with any group organized on a big scale,” Tusk said on Sunday morning, during a crisis meeting with government and security services. “These are very often spontaneous actions inspired by online activity.”

“In the past years and months, we have noted — globally and in Poland — a rise in the fascination with violence.”

Tusk said the acts could be associated with “nihilistic violence,” a term used by authorities to describe acts of violence driven by a nihilistic worldview and misanthropy rather than specific political goals.

In the case of Poland, he said “some of the people detained are active in the ultraright environment." He said authorities have observed intensified online searches of Nazi content as well as of “mass killers who have become idols online.”

Tusk said Poland was facing a “civilizational phenomenon” where kids playing video games, even banal ones, or those interested in crime stories, were getting exposed to more and more violence.

“This is essentially a copycat scenario, something of a long trail of attackers going back to at least 2019, if not decades earlier,” Kacper Rekawek, senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague, told the AP. He was referring to Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist who shot and killed 51 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.

Rekawek said that one of the suspects in the latest Polish attacks used the same imagery and esthetics as Tarrant, which means the Polish incidents should be “placed within the confines of essentially terrorist behavior.”

Tusk said police checks at schools across Poland would continue into next week in case kids exposed to the stories of the past attacks might “get stupid and unsafe thoughts” to imitate them.

He said Poland had lots of work to do as a society, with parents and teachers having an especially important role to play in communicating with kids about their experiences online and explaining that “fascination and membership in these online practices can lead to very negative consequences.”

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student at a vocational school in the Mazovian province attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby with a sharp object, wounding nine people. He was arrested nearby. The following day, a 15-year-old killed a school custodian and wounded two other people in a knife attack at his former school in the same province. On Saturday, a 21-year old woman wounded three at a post-secondary school in Warsaw.

Rumors that the attacks were coordinated and that there would be more on “bloody Friday” were shared in parents’ online groups and by mainstream media. It led to 59 schools preemptively suspending classes on Friday across Poland, the majority in Mazovian province.

Those detained on Friday by the police include a 14-year-old boy from Warsaw who was found in possession of a knife with a concealed blade and 11 firecrackers, and a 16-year old who came to school with a butterfly knife in his backpack, police said.

A police officer and a volunteer firefighter look down the street near a cordoned-off area following an attack on the Vocational School Complex No. 4 in Ostroleka, Poland, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafal Niedzielski)