- Executive Summary
In February 2026, a mass food poisoning event occurred at state vocational high schools (SMK HKBP and Arina) in Sidikalang, Dairi Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Laboratory analysis by the North Sumatra Health Laboratory (Labkesda) confirmed that dangerous bacterial contamination of government-provided free nutritious meals (Makan Bergizi Gratis, or MBG) was the causative agent. The incident has prompted a comprehensive evaluation of the free meals programme in Dairi Regency and raised significant questions regarding food safety governance in large-scale public nutrition initiatives across Southeast Asia. - Case Study
2.1 Background
The Makan Bergizi Gratis (MBG) programme is a flagship social policy initiative launched by the administration of President Prabowo Subianto in January 2025. Designed to address malnutrition and improve educational outcomes, the programme provides free nutritious meals to schoolchildren and other vulnerable groups across Indonesia. With ambitions to serve tens of millions of beneficiaries nationally, MBG represents one of the largest food assistance programmes in the region.
2.2 Incident Overview
Date of Incident Mid-February 2026 (two weeks prior to report dated 27 Feb 2026)
Location Sidikalang, Dairi Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia
Affected Institutions SMK HKBP and SMK Arina (State Vocational High Schools)
Programme Involved Makan Bergizi Gratis (MBG) – Government Free Nutritious Meals
Confirmed Cause Bacterial contamination (dangerous bacteria per Labkesda microbiology tests)
Investigating Authority Dairi Health Agency; North Sumatra Health Laboratory (Labkesda)
Responsible Official Henry Manik, Head of Dairi Health Agency
2.3 Sequence of Events
Students at SMK HKBP and SMK Arina consumed government-provided meals as part of the MBG programme. Shortly after consumption, multiple students fell ill with symptoms consistent with foodborne bacterial infection, triggering a mass food poisoning response. The Dairi Health Agency initiated an investigation and collected food samples from the implicated meal batches. Microbiology testing by Labkesda confirmed the presence of dangerous bacteria in the sampled meals. Authorities announced that a comprehensive overall evaluation of the free meals programme in Dairi Regency would be conducted in response.
2.4 Causative Factors
While the specific bacterial species have not been publicly disclosed at the time of reporting, the contamination points to systemic failures in one or more of the following areas:
Supply chain hygiene: inadequate sanitation during procurement, storage, or transportation of raw ingredients.
Food preparation standards: insufficient cooking temperatures, cross-contamination in preparation facilities, or use of contaminated water sources.
Holding and distribution protocols: improper temperature control during meal holding and distribution to schools, facilitating bacterial proliferation.
Oversight and quality assurance: absence of robust pre-distribution microbiological testing and third-party audits.
Rapid programme scale-up: the MBG programme was expanded aggressively, potentially outpacing the capacity of supply chain operators to maintain food safety standards.
2.5 Immediate Response
The Dairi Health Agency acted swiftly to conduct laboratory testing and confirm the bacterial cause. A public announcement was made attributing the incident to contaminated government meals. Authorities committed to an overall evaluation of the MBG programme in Dairi Regency, signalling an intent to review procurement, preparation, and distribution protocols. No national-level programme suspension was announced, suggesting a localised remediation approach.
- Outlook
3.1 Programmatic Outlook for MBG in Indonesia
The Dairi incident is unlikely to result in the suspension of MBG nationally given its political prominence as a presidential flagship programme. However, the incident is expected to catalyse the following developments:
Tightened food safety regulations and mandatory microbiological testing protocols for all MBG meal providers.
Greater scrutiny of third-party catering contractors engaged by the MBG programme, including potential blacklisting of non-compliant operators.
Increased investment in cold chain infrastructure and temperature monitoring for meal distribution logistics.
Expansion of the role of local health agencies (Dinas Kesehatan) in pre-distribution food safety auditing.
The MBG programme faces the classic tension between rapid scale-up and quality assurance. As it expands toward its target of over 80 million beneficiaries, isolated contamination events are likely to recur unless robust, standardised food safety management systems are institutionalised at every level of the supply chain.
3.2 Regional Outlook
The incident contributes to a growing body of evidence highlighting food safety risks in mass public feeding programmes across Southeast Asia. Governments in the region have increasingly adopted large-scale nutrition interventions as part of social protection and human capital development agendas. The Dairi case underscores that scaling such programmes without proportionate investment in food safety infrastructure and regulation risks undermining their intended health and welfare benefits. Regional bodies such as ASEAN and WHO SEARO may reference this case in future guidance on food safety governance in public nutrition programmes.
3.3 Reputational and Political Outlook
For the Prabowo administration, the Dairi incident represents a reputational risk. The MBG programme has been heavily promoted as a symbol of the government’s commitment to public welfare. Continued food safety failures could erode public confidence in the programme and provide ammunition to political critics. The government’s response — pace of remediation, transparency of investigation findings, and accountability for responsible parties — will be a key indicator of institutional credibility.
- Recommended Solutions
4.1 Short-Term Measures
Immediate suspension and re-inspection of all MBG meal providers in Dairi Regency pending food safety audit.
Mandatory microbiological testing of meal samples prior to distribution, with results logged in a centralised database.
Deployment of food safety officers from the Dairi Health Agency to all MBG preparation facilities for on-site supervision.
Establishment of a clear incident reporting and rapid response protocol to reduce time between symptom onset and public health intervention.
Medical follow-up for all affected students to ensure full recovery and document the clinical profile of the outbreak.
4.2 Medium-Term Measures
Development of a national MBG Food Safety Standard (FSS) incorporating HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) principles, to be mandated for all programme operators.
Introduction of a tiered vendor certification system, requiring MBG contractors to demonstrate food safety compliance before programme participation.
Investment in cold chain logistics, particularly in outer island and rural provinces where infrastructure gaps are greatest.
Capacity building for local health agencies to conduct food safety inspections and respond to outbreaks effectively.
Transparent public reporting of food safety incidents within the MBG programme, including root cause findings and corrective actions.
4.3 Long-Term Systemic Reforms
Legislative strengthening of Indonesia’s Food Safety Law (UU Pangan) to create specific obligations for government-administered feeding programmes.
Establishment of an independent food safety authority with prosecutorial powers over government and private food operators alike.
Integration of food safety education into school curricula and community health programmes to build long-term public literacy.
Regional knowledge-sharing mechanisms within ASEAN to benchmark food safety practices in public nutrition programmes.
- Singapore: Implications and Lessons
5.1 Relevance to Singapore
While Singapore is not directly implicated in the Dairi Regency incident, the case carries significant relevance for Singapore across several dimensions: food security policy, regional supply chain risk, diplomatic considerations, and the broader discourse on public health governance in Southeast Asia.
5.2 Food Security and Supply Chain Risk
Singapore imports over 90% of its food requirements, with a significant proportion sourced from the broader Southeast Asian region, including Indonesia. The Dairi incident serves as a reminder that food safety failures in the region can have upstream supply chain implications. Key considerations for Singapore include:
Indonesia’s ongoing expansion of its agricultural and food processing sectors means that food safety standards in Indonesian facilities directly affect the quality and safety of goods that may enter Singapore’s supply chain.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) operates a rigorous import inspection and accreditation regime; however, the Dairi case reinforces the need for continued vigilance regarding the food safety governance capacity of supplying nations.
Singapore’s 30 by 30 food resilience goal (producing 30% of nutritional needs locally by 2030) gains added urgency in the context of recurring food safety incidents in major supplier countries.
5.3 Regional Health Diplomacy
As a regional hub for public health governance and a significant donor to capacity-building initiatives in Southeast Asia, Singapore has both an interest and an opportunity to contribute to improved food safety standards in the region. Possible avenues include:
Sharing Singapore’s food safety regulatory expertise through bilateral technical assistance programmes with Indonesia’s BPOM (National Agency of Drug and Food Control).
Supporting regional food safety capacity building through platforms such as the ASEAN Food Safety Network and WHO SEARO.
Encouraging harmonisation of food safety standards within the ASEAN Economic Community framework, reducing regulatory fragmentation that can enable substandard practices.
5.4 Lessons for Singapore’s Public Feeding Programmes
Singapore operates several publicly administered food and nutrition programmes, including those targeting schoolchildren (e.g., MOE’s School Meal Programme) and vulnerable populations (e.g., meals-on-wheels for the elderly). The Dairi case offers instructive lessons:
Rapid programme scale-up must be matched by proportionate investment in food safety infrastructure and oversight — a lesson applicable to any government considering programme expansion.
Third-party catering contractors must be subject to rigorous and regular food safety audits, with consequences for non-compliance.
An incident response framework should be clearly articulated so that mass food poisoning events trigger immediate, coordinated action across health, education, and food safety agencies.
Transparency in communicating food safety incidents to the public builds rather than erodes institutional trust — a principle Singapore’s public health agencies have consistently demonstrated.
5.5 Broader Policy Signal
The Dairi incident is a signal that as Southeast Asian governments scale up social protection programmes — including food assistance — food safety governance must be treated as a core policy priority, not an afterthought. Singapore, as a regional policy leader, can play a constructive role in shaping this agenda through multilateral engagement, knowledge transfer, and advocacy for standards harmonisation.
- Conclusion
The mass food poisoning incident in Dairi Regency is a case study in the systemic challenges that attend the rapid scaling of government-administered nutrition programmes. The confirmed bacterial contamination of MBG meals exposes gaps in food safety governance at the procurement, preparation, and distribution stages. In the short term, localised remediation is underway; in the medium to long term, structural reforms to Indonesia’s food safety regulatory architecture are needed to prevent recurrence at scale. For Singapore and the wider Southeast Asian region, the incident is a timely reminder of the interdependence of public health, food security, and governance quality — and of the need for sustained investment in food safety institutions as a public good.