Indonesia’s free nutritious-meal programme, known as Makan Bergizi Gratis or MBG, has reached 57 million beneficiaries through 27,486 kitchen units, according to Metro TV News, which cited National Nutrition Agency (BGN) data published on 9 October 2026. Separate reporting by Databoks, citing Finance Ministry figures, put total spending on the programme at Rp153.2 trillion (roughly $9.7 billion, or about £7.5 billion) through the end of September 2026.
The programme, one of President Prabowo Subianto’s signature social policies, provides free meals to schoolchildren, pregnant women and other priority groups through a national network of community kitchens. BGN has continued expanding that network through the year, with plans to add 480 new units in remote regions by the end of October 2026, according to Databoks.
Alongside that expansion, BGN has moved to tighten oversight of kitchens already operating. The agency closed 1,276 units for lacking valid hygiene certificates, Databoks reported, a signal that the scheme’s rapid scale-up has outpaced quality control at some sites. The closures followed inspections rather than a single incident, according to the available reporting, though neither source detailed the specific violations found.
Scale brings scrutiny
Indonesia’s free meal programme is reportedly the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia by beneficiary count, a position that invites comparison with earlier school-feeding and nutrition programmes elsewhere, which policymakers have cited as both a public health intervention and an economic stimulus reaching tens of thousands of local kitchen operators and food suppliers. The closures suggest BGN is trying to balance that scale with basic food-safety enforcement rather than treating expansion and oversight as separate tracks.
The programme’s budget trajectory has also drawn domestic debate. An earlier report from The Fourth Plate in October 2026 covered concerns that growth in MBG’s free-meals budget risked squeezing targeted food-aid programmes for Indonesia’s poorest households, a trade-off that remains unresolved even as the beneficiary count climbs toward Prabowo’s stated goal of reaching all of Indonesia’s roughly 80 million-plus target population.
What happens to closed kitchens
Neither Databoks nor Metro TV News reported what happens to the communities served by the 1,276 closed units, or how quickly BGN expects replacement kitchens to come online in those areas. The agency’s parallel plan to open 480 new units suggests some reallocation of resources toward underserved regions, though it is not clear whether that expansion is intended to offset the closures or proceed independently of them.
For a programme built around both scale and nutrition outcomes, the coming months are likely to test whether BGN can tighten hygiene standards without slowing the pace of expansion that has made MBG a centrepiece of Prabowo’s domestic agenda. BGN has not set a public target date for resolving outstanding certification gaps across its kitchen network.
