Jakarta. Foreign Affairs Minister Sugiono recently discussed Indonesia’s free meal rollout with his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira as mass food poisoning incidents plague the multibillion-dollar program in the Southeast Asian country.

In his annual press statement, Sugiono said that the free meal program would become a part of Indonesia’s diplomacy under the Prabowo Subianto administration. Indonesia aims to serve over 80 million people -- including children and expectant mothers -- free but nutrient-dense meals daily. This ambitious program was among the topics brought up when Sugiono met Vieira in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend.

“Both parties discussed the opportunities for cooperation in food security, energy, education, and healthcare. The two foreign ministers underline how both governments’ priority programs align, particularly on human capital development, among others, through the nutritious meal rollout for schoolchildren,” a ministerial press statement reads. 

The Indonesian government did not elaborate on what the diplomats had discussed, and whether Brazil was willing to offer assistance to help Jakarta feed its students. However, Prabowo had expressed Indonesia’s intent to consult with Brazil -- a country that had been running a similar program since 1955. Brazil’s school meal program currently serves 40 million students daily. During a trip to Rio de Janeiro last November or months before the launch date, Prabowo said that he would “send a team” to see how Brazil had been feeding its students.

When Prabowo ran for president in 2024, the retired army general claimed that the nutritious meal rollout could help Indonesia tackle stunted growth among its children and provide a major impetus to the economy. The Prabowo administration officially launched the initiative in early January, with the program getting Rp 71 trillion ($4.2 billion) in state money to spend for this year alone. The government had plans to raise its budget to Rp 171 trillion to further expand the program’s reach.

Sugiono-Vieira's talks came at a time when Indonesia’s meal rollout was grappling with mass food poisonings. Just last week, 72 students fell sick after consuming the government-aided meals in Cianjur, West Java. Reports also show that dozens of students at an elementary school in Southeast Sulawesi’s Kasipute recently had symptoms of food poisoning after eating a chicken dish that was allegedly stale. The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) -- which is in charge of overseeing this program -- said it would evaluate the standard operating procedures in each kitchen to make sure all the hot meals are up to standard.

Sugiono is currently in Rio de Janeiro to attend the BRICS foreign ministerial meeting. BRICS is a group of emerging economies that originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and eventually South Africa. The alliance later expanded to embrace Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and, most recently, Indonesia.