A mass food poisoning incident occurred in Karo Regency, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia, with at least 269 students from five schools showing symptoms of poisoning and being sent to hospital for treatment.
Xinhua News Agency quoted Indonesian media reports today, stating that the local education department head said some students began to show symptoms of poisoning one after another after lunch on the 13th, and as of that evening, 269 students had been sent to the hospital for treatment. Currently, all students who were hospitalized are stable, and no deaths have been reported.
It is understood that meals at the five schools all came from the same catering kitchen. The menu that day included rice, cabbage, carrots, and curried fish.
The local education department head said that initial suspicion points to the curried fish as the source of the poisoning. The Indonesian National Nutrition Agency and other departments have launched an investigation and are testing food samples.
Since President Prabowo took office, he has vigorously promoted the free nutrition meal program in Indonesia, aiming to provide free nutritious meals for around 83 million schoolchildren, young children, pregnant, and breastfeeding women. However, since the program was rolled out at the beginning of 2025, multiple incidents of food poisoning and food spoilage have already occurred.
On July 30, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the free nutrition meal program does not belong under education expenditure, and using the education budget to implement this program violates the constitutional provisions on protecting education funds.
Indonesia’s Finance Minister Purba said on July 31 that authorities will comply with the court’s decision and strictly implement it from 2028. He explained that the budget for the coming year is already under discussion and will soon be submitted to parliament, so it is not easy to split the budget for education and the free nutrition meal program starting from the next year.
It is understood that meals at the five schools all came from the same catering kitchen. The menu that day included rice, cabbage, carrots, and curried fish.
The local education department head said that initial suspicion points to the curried fish as the source of the poisoning. The Indonesian National Nutrition Agency and other departments have launched an investigation and are testing food samples.
Since President Prabowo took office, he has vigorously promoted the free nutrition meal program in Indonesia, aiming to provide free nutritious meals for around 83 million schoolchildren, young children, pregnant, and breastfeeding women. However, since the program was rolled out at the beginning of 2025, multiple incidents of food poisoning and food spoilage have already occurred.
On July 30, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the free nutrition meal program does not belong under education expenditure, and using the education budget to implement this program violates the constitutional provisions on protecting education funds.
Indonesia’s Finance Minister Purba said on July 31 that authorities will comply with the court’s decision and strictly implement it from 2028. He explained that the budget for the coming year is already under discussion and will soon be submitted to parliament, so it is not easy to split the budget for education and the free nutrition meal program starting from the next year.