12 Female Students In Cianjur Suspected Of Being Poisoned By Free Nutritious Food; Health Office To Investigate

CIANJUR - The Cianjur Regency Health Office, West Java, is investigating a suspected poisoning case involving 12 female students in the Cidaun District. The preliminary suspicion is that the students experienced symptoms of poisoning after consuming food from the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program.

The Head of the Cianjur Regency Health Office, Made Setiawan, stated that his team has taken food samples consumed by the students for laboratory testing.

"The team has taken food samples suspected to be the cause. The laboratory test results will be available in the next few days," Made said when confirmed by Antara on Friday, August 22.

In addition to ready-to-eat food, the Health Office is also examining the ingredients of the MBG menu served on the day of the incident.

Dozens of female students from the Assatinem Islamic Education Foundation in Kertajadi Village, Cidaun District, received treatment at the Cidaun Community Health Center after experiencing symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and dizziness.

"They have now returned to their boarding school because their condition has improved. However, they are still being monitored by our medical team," said Eman Sulaeman, Head of the Cidaun Community Health Center.

Health workers will continue to monitor the students' condition over the next few days to ensure there are no further symptoms.

Eman added that symptoms of poisoning began to appear several hours after the students ate lunch from the MBG program.

According to several students, they had consumed spaghetti noodles with a sauce that they said had an unpleasant odor.

"The cause is not yet certain, but the students did mention smelling an unpleasant odor from the spaghetti sauce," Eman said.

The Cianjur Health Office emphasized that laboratory test results are key to determining the exact cause of the incident. The government will also evaluate oversight of the distribution of MBG food to educational institutions, particularly Islamic boarding schools.