Instant Food, Sweet Milk, To The Basi Menu: Strong Criticism For The MBG Program At The DPR Meeting

JAKARTA - The civil society coalition delivered criticism and input on Free Nutrition Food (MBG) to Commission IX of the DPR, after the mass poisoning incident after students in various regions ate the food menu from President Prabowo Subianto's superior government program. Some criticized the MBG menu which came from instant and fast food processed products, as well as stale food.

The criticisms and complaints were revealed by the Mother and Child Health Movement (GKIA) and the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) during a hearing (RDP) with Commission IX of the DPR at the Nusantara I Building, Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday, September 22. CISDI and GKIA were also present with the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) in parliament.

Representing GKIA, the Doctor and Community Nutrition Expert, dr. Tan Shot Yen, criticized the instant and fast food menus in the distribution of MBG in a number of areas. He got this from the many complaints from people who entered via direct messages on his social media.

Some of the problems that are often used are stomach pain, diarrhea (cret), and there are other problems in MBG such as raw chickens, as well as MBG hanging around.

Dr. Tan also regrets that the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has missed the education on the content of milk in the five-health menu is perfect. He emphasized that 80 percent of Indonesians are intolerant of milk production.

"Not many know that as a Malay race, 80 percent are intolerant of lactose. According to Permenkes Number 41 of 2014 we have come out of 4 healthy and 5 perfect, milk is an animal protein part that is not very important if there are fish with eggs, our country does not lack protein," said Dr. Tan.

"Our public is very smart, what is divided not by milk, this is a sugary drink and there is writing, it is not suitable for babies aged 0 to 12 months and some even make no sense, given sucro, it is not suitable for children and pregnant women. Even the MBG is shared in the form of instantarized porridge. This is a decrease in the strictness of feeding pregnant women and children. So many people end up feeling guilty because they often throw away food. In fact, lastly, some entered the ER, because their children were nauseated and vomited. So this is not really a joke, "continued Dr. Tan.

Dr Tan then highlighted the guidance on food products distributed to schools and posyandu which did not turn out to be well educated. Dr tan is also surprised if MBG is said to have increased MSMEs, even signed a collaboration with Danone's company for formula milk, even though formula milk is not better than breast milk.

"Is this so-called MSMEs like those selling frozen food. If that's true, it should be fishermen farmers, this is what they benefit from, and they are very fierce. If MBG is stopped, he said he wanted to stop us from having a livelihood. Actually, the community itself has been clashed by two camps," said Dr. Tan.

Therefore, Dr. Tan assessed that stunting alleviation is not just distributing food but there must be education. He also assessed that BGN needed to carry out four reforms in the implementation of MBG.

"First, stop the distribution of dry food which refers to UPF production. Second and third, stop potential and problematic SPPG operations. Fourth, apply an accountable monitoring system.

"We also submitted five MBG recommendations. The first is given in the 3T area. The second is cooperation with the Puskesmas, not BPOM. The third is financial transparency. Fourth, nutritious food education which is BGN's promise. Fifth, allocate the local menu by 80 percent throughout the region.

"I want Papuan children to eat sour soup fish. But what happens is that what is shared is burgers, where wheat flour does not grow on Indonesian soil, divided intoIGries in various regions, does not," he said.

Meanwhile, Senior Policy Analyst of the Center for Indonesia Strategic Development Initiative (CISDI), Muhammad Iqbal Hafizon revealed that there are many students in 12 provinces who do not eat food from the Free Nutrition Food (MBG) program.

The results, said Iqbal, were obtained when CISDI together with the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) conducted an online survey from July 11 to August 1, 2025. The survey was conducted on 1,624 respondents from 12 provinces.

"Some of the findings we got from 1624 respondents, 572 of whom or about 35.2 percent have experience not consuming MBG," said Iqbal.

Iqbal said that one of the main factors for children not to spend MBG is because the food is stale or odor. "In the next question form, we ask specifically with closed questions. How many respondents experience receiving stale food and damaged? It's in 583," said Iqbal.

From the survey, it was revealed that 11 respondents or children who received MBG admitted that they still ate MBG even though the food was stale or damaged. Iqbal said they ate MBG food that was stale or damaged because they did not want to be redundant.

When they entered into open questions again, 11 respondents gave testimonials that even though they received stale or rotten foods, they still consumed MBG because they were grateful and didn't want to be redundant, "he said.