Building Character from the Free Nutritious Meal Program

Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Raina Fajria's tone, a grade 9 student at SMP Negeri 13 Depok, West Java, was very confident in answering no when asked if she was worried that the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) given at her school contained poison.

The student believed in the teachers who tasted the MBG before it was distributed to students.

Nada realized that each SPPG has certainly considered the intake of nutrients in vegetables, fruits, side dishes, to the milk served. Education about nutritional value is one of those instilled in students so that they will grow with a healthy intake of food into the body.

Character development through MBG does not necessarily look real, because human development cannot display statistics like infrastructure development that can be measured quickly.

At SMPN 13 Depok, character building starts from getting used to taking responsibility when taking food. Every day, there is one student in charge who is in charge of taking food to the school lobby. He is in charge of counting the number of his friends who are present that day, taking ompreng with the appropriate number, to distributing food.

The head of SMPN 13 Depok, Farida Nurbaiti, explained that there was a cultivation of tolerance and solidarity in MBG.

Every time a child is absent, the teacher will offer other students whether they want to spend their friend's allowance, if no one is interested, then it is offered to the teacher, and if the teacher is not interested, then the food will be offered again to students with less economic conditions to be transferred to the lunch box and taken home for their families.

"MBG is not just that we can eat for free, but it gives a great character to children, how they line up, get along with their friends, and when it's over, some return the ompreng in an orderly manner, so that MBG is not a burden, but builds a positive character besides them getting nutrition," said Farida, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 16.

Students are also taught not to throw away food scraps. Bones, vegetable stems, seeds from fruits, to rice scraps are collected into one. Students who have pets or farms at home, can bring food waste to feed animals.

Teachers are also involved in ensuring that no waste is wasted. Food waste will be distributed to the maggot farm owned by the local RT/RW so that it can turn a profitable circular economy.

Character development starts from SPPG

MBG which is distributed smoothly from SPPG Cinere is the result of character development and dedication of officers. Until now, there has been no food poisoning incident at the SPPG.

Head of SPPG Cinere Afif Maulana Rivai said that before the raw materials arrived, the supplier had ensured that there was a guarantee of quality. If there is damaged raw material, the supplier must immediately replace it with a better one.

SPPG Cinere also requires all guests to comply with the SOP that has been implemented, from washing hands before entering the kitchen, to wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) including headgear and masks.

All employees are not allowed to wear clothes from outside. Accessories such as rings should not be worn to avoid contamination or incidents such as falling into the cooking. There are lockers and changing rooms for officers so that they can enter the kitchen in a sterile state.

For the cooking process, SPPG Cinere has its own SOP regarding the knives used. Green knives are only used to cut vegetables, red for meat, and white for fruit.

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After all the ingredients are cooked, the food must be refrigerated for 1-2 hours to avoid contamination from the heat inside the ompreng.

When washing ompreng, officers are prohibited from passing through the kitchen, they must pass through their own path in the back. Ompreng will be put into a special washer with a capacity of 40. There is hot water, chemicals and soap for stainless steel cleaning.

After that, the team must wipe all the dishes that have been washed using gloves and sterile wipes. For waste processing, SPPG Cinere has also separated food waste, even working with the local village to receive food waste as maggot feed.

Through cooperation and collaboration between SPPG and the school, MBG's big goal for the development of quality Indonesian human character can be realized.