Indonesia: More 1,700 people have contracted food poisoning in Indonesia over the past week after eating free school meals provided by the government as part of a new scheme.
According to Deutsche Welle, at least 725 pupils and 25 teachers at a school in Lasem on the island of Java complained that they felt unwell on Thursday morning after consuming the free lunch on Wednesday. "They had diarrhea, they were vomiting, and felt nauseous," said the school's principal. "There was a queue at the bathrooms because two of our toilets are under renovation."
Earlier this week, more than 600 students in Sidoarjo, East Java, were also taken to hospital after eating free lunch meals on Tuesday. In two other cases on Wednesday, 49 people in the East Java city of Nganjuk and 237 in the West Sumatra region of Agam also fell ill.
One lawmaker, Charles Honoris, cited health department data, claiming the total number of food poisoning cases linked to the free school meals scheme could be as high as 50,000. "This is a failure of the system," he said.
The mass outbreaks of food poisoning have been blamed on improper food storage and late delivery of pre-cooked meals. The school principal in Lasem reported that a food taster found some of the grilled chicken to be "slimy" and it was therefore put aside. "The kitchen operator said the food was cooked at 3 a.m. and it was eaten at noon," she stated.