Maretha Uli, Jakarta – The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has hired 5,000 professional chefs to train staff working at kitchens providing food under the free nutritious meal program, although experts have warned the move may not be a solution to the persistent food poisoning that has marred the program.
The agency announced the decision on Friday after reaching an agreement with the Indonesian Chef Association (ICA) to send chefs to kitchens to help staff cook professionally and following hygiene standards.
"The professional chefs will be deployed to various regions across Indonesia starting Oct. 13," BGN head Dadan Hindayana said in a statement on Friday.
Established in 2007, ICA is a non-profit organization for culinary professionals and entrepreneurs with more than 4,000 members in 22 provinces as of 2021, according to its website.
The association chair Susanto reiterated its commitment to support the continuity of the free meal program, asserting that halting the program would not be a solution to the issues, which include mass food poisoning among students being fed under the program.
"Through collaboration, ICA hopes to play an active role as a strategic partner and provide a tangible and sustainable solution [for the program]," Susanto said in the Friday statement.
He added the association had shared recommendations with BGN on managing the kitchens, formally called the nutrition fulfillment service unit (SPPG), and would also provide technical guidance and certification assistance to kitchens' staff.
The announcement came after mounting reports of food poisoning cases linked to the free meal program, which was first launched in January. As of last week, the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celious) has reported nearly 10,000 cases of foodborne illness among free meal recipients, a jump from the 6,457 cases recorded by BGN in September.
Responding to the incidents, the government pledged increased supervision, such as requiring Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) hygiene and sanitation and halal certifications for all SPPG's.
President Prabowo Subianto's government has dismissed public calls for a nationwide full moratorium of the program. Instead, the government instructed BGN to suspend only kitchens linked to poisoning incidents.
Yet, more poisoning cases have been reported this month, with new hotspots emerging in East Java, South Kalimantan and East Nusa Tenggara.
Insufficient efforts
The chefs' hiring was met with doubt by some experts who noted they may not necessarily prevent contamination, and that stricter monitoring on ingredients, storage, cooking space, sanitation and staff would be more effective to ensure the safety of disbursed food.
"Proper management and regular inspection are crucial to ensure food safety and help prevent bacterial or fungal contamination that could lead to poisoning," public health expert Irma Hidayana said on Saturday.
Instead of relying on professional chefs or limited kitchen staff for large-scale production, she suggested authorities empower local communities, such as those working at puskesmas (community health centers).
"If the meals are prepared by community groups and mothers who have experience handling supplementary feeding, the process would be shorter and the distribution chain simpler, reducing the time between cooking, packaging and delivery to schools."
Irma pointed to the Health Ministry's program of supplementary feeding distributed through puskesmas, aimed at providing additional meals for pregnant women and preventing stunting among toddlers and malnourished children.
While efforts to improve rollout of the free meal program following the food poisoning cases have been commendable, nutrition expert Toto Sudargo of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) said improvements should be made on all aspects simultaneously.
"No matter how skilled the chefs are, if the management of raw material procurement, storage, processing and serving does not follow the HACCP standards, food poisoning will still occur," he said on Saturday.
Toto argued SPPG should have proper storage planning, including a mechanism to monitor how long ingredients are kept before processing. Protein sources such as chicken and fish are particularly prone to spoilage without proper storage, which can lead to bacterial contamination.
To minimize such a risk, the UGM expert said authorities should strengthen the role of nutritionists, whose presence has so far been mandatory in each kitchen.
"From my observations and reports I've received, nutritionists have little authority because they're not part of the command structure," he went on to say. "They cannot intervene even when ingredients are spoiled or the food is properly prepared".