About 400 pupils fall sick after eating free school meals in Indonesia

About 400 children have fallen ill in Indonesia's western Bengkulu Province after eating free school meals.

It is the worst mass food poisoning case linked to President Prabowo Subianto's flagship programme.

The initiative, launched in January for children and pregnant women to curb malnutrition, has been marred by outbreaks across the archipelago, affecting hundreds.

In August, 365 people fell ill from free school meals in Central Java; local media reports indicated poor sanitation was the cause.

In Bengkulu, children aged four to 12 were rushed to a local hospital last Thursday, complaining of stomach pain, according to a local government video handout.

Authorities will launch an investigation into the cause of the illness, the province's vice governor Mian said.

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"We will temporarily suspend operations at this kitchen while we investigate where the weaknesses lie. This is the domain of the BGN (National Nutrition Agency) investigation team and the authorities," he said.

The National Nutrition Agency, which runs the programme, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since its launch, the free school meals programme has been rapidly expanded to reach over 20 million recipients so far.

Authorities plan to reach 83 million recipients by year-end, budgeting a total cost of 171 trillion rupiah ($10.52 billion) this year.

During the August food poisoning outbreak, Sragen government chief Sigit Pamungkas said the government would pay for any medical treatment if needed.

Wizdan Ridho Abimanyu, a ninth grader at Gemolong 1 Middle School said he was woken at night by sharp pain in his stomach.

He had a headache and diarrhoea, which he deduced had been caused by food poisoning after seeing schoolmates' social media posts complaining of the same.

The likely contaminated lunch was turmeric rice, omelette ribbons, fried tempeh, cucumber and lettuce salad, sliced apple and a box of milk, cooked in a central kitchen and distributed to several schools.