2,000 sick after Indonesia school meals; rights body seeks probe

Students rest while receiving treatment for food poisoning at the regional general hospital after eating government-sponsored free school meals in Indonesia. (Photo: Reuters) Around 2,000 students and teachers have reportedly fallen ill after eating government-provided free meals across several Indonesian provinces this week, prompting the country's top independent human rights body, Komnas HAM, to call on Friday for a police investigation. Komnas HAM also urged the National Nutrition Agency, which oversees President Prabowo Subianto's flagship free-meal programme, to suspend kitchens allegedly linked to the latest poisoning outbreaks.More than 1,700 cases were reported this week across Central Java, East Java and West Sumatra. 170 students and teachers in Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, fell ill on Thursday after eating the free meals, according to local media outlet Kompas, reported by Reuters.Rights body seeks police probe and kitchen suspensionKomnas HAM on Friday said access to safe food was a human right and warned that without rigorous sanitation standards, the state's nutrition intervention would “lose its moral legitimacy.” It called for police to investigate the poisoning ca...