More than 360 people in central Java have fallen sick after eating free school lunches, making it the largest food poisoning case linked to President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship meal programme since it began in January.

The free meals initiative, launched to fight child stunting, has now been suspended in Sragen as health authorities test food samples for possible contamination.

Local officials said 365 students and community members reported stomach pain, diarrhoea, and headaches after eating a meal distributed to several schools in the town.

The lunch included turmeric rice, scrambled eggs, fried tempeh, cucumber salad, and a box of milk, all prepared in a central kitchen.

Among the affected was ninth-grader Wizdan Ridho Abimanyu, who described being woken at night by sharp stomach pains before later suffering diarrhoea and headaches.

He said he realised many of his classmates were experiencing the same symptoms after seeing their posts on social media.

Town leader Sigit Pamungkas told Tempo newspaper that it was too early to make firm conclusions but admitted that the programme needed tighter controls.

“We cannot draw any specific conclusions right away. But the main point is that it’s not just [happening here],” he said, adding that the free meals scheme as a whole “needs to be more stringent and more hygienic.”

Authorities confirmed that the government would cover all medical expenses for those affected.

The free meals programme, which costs an estimated $28 billion, was one of Prabowo’s key campaign pledges and is intended to feed 80 million school children across Indonesia.

However, it has faced repeated outbreaks of food poisoning and mounting criticism over its cost.

To fund the scheme and other populist initiatives, Prabowo ordered $19 billion in cuts, leaving several ministries with budgets reduced by half. Civil servants complained they were forced to cut back on basic services such as air conditioning, office lifts, and even printers.

The budget squeeze triggered public anger, with thousands protesting against the cuts. Demonstrators carried banners including one that read: “Children eat for free, parents are laid off.”

Despite the backlash and health scares, Prabowo defended the initiative during his first State of the National Address on Friday.

He said the programme, alongside other social welfare schemes, was central to his vision of lifting Indonesia out of poverty.
“It will help transform Indonesia into a country that is free from poverty, free from hunger, free from suffering,” he said.

More than 1,000 people across the country have fallen ill since the launch of the ambitious plan, but the president has stood firm, insisting that the benefits will outweigh the challenges.