Three Spoiled Rice Cakes That Shaped Sudaryono’s Commitment to Food Safety

JAKARTA, STUPA NEWS — Three arem-arem rice cakes costing 500 rupiah each became part of an experience that left a lasting impression on Sudaryono, long before he became involved in efforts to ensure food safety in Indonesia’s Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme.

As a young man from Grobogan, Central Java, Sudaryono travelled to Jakarta to take an entrance examination for officer training. He had spent months preparing physically and mentally, hoping to fulfil his ambition of wearing an officer’s uniform.

But the journey took an unexpected turn after he ate what he later recalled as spoiled food at Pulogadung Terminal in Jakarta.

Exhausted and hungry after a long overland journey, he bought three arem-arem from a street vendor. The traditional Indonesian rice cakes, typically filled with ingredients such as vegetables or meat, were intended to be a quick meal before his scheduled activities.

He ate the first two without noticing anything unusual. But when he took a bite of the third, he detected a sour taste and realised the food had gone bad.

His health subsequently deteriorated. Despite feeling unwell, Sudaryono proceeded with the physical selection tests but failed to achieve the required result. His ambition of becoming an officer came to an end.

The experience left him with a lasting lesson about the potential consequences of unsafe food. In his account, food safety was no longer simply a matter of taste or price, but something that could affect a person's health and ability to pursue important opportunities.

Years later, that personal experience took on a different significance in the context of Indonesia's MBG programme, a government initiative providing nutritious meals to schoolchildren and other designated beneficiaries.

For Sudaryono, food safety is inseparable from efforts to improve nutrition. Food intended to support children's health and learning can instead pose risks if its preparation, storage or distribution fails to meet appropriate standards.

Behind every meal container delivered to a school lies the need to ensure that its contents are not only nutritious but also safe to eat. For children, illness can affect attendance, concentration and their ability to participate in classroom activities.

The challenge becomes more significant as the MBG programme expands. The wider its reach, the greater the need for consistent food safety standards, effective oversight and clear accountability at every stage of meal preparation and delivery.

Sudaryono's experience with the spoiled rice cakes does not, by itself, provide a blueprint for how the entire system should operate. But it offers a personal perspective on why food safety should not be treated merely as an administrative requirement.

For MBG, such a commitment must translate into measurable action: ensuring ingredients are fit for consumption, maintaining hygiene during food preparation, controlling storage conditions and delivery times, and responding promptly to reports of suspected food-related illness.

Food safety also requires consistent oversight, not just action after an incident has been reported. Written standards must be implemented in practice, while regular evaluations are needed to determine whether procedures are effectively protecting beneficiaries.

For Sudaryono, the memory of three rice cakes at Pulogadung Terminal remains a personal reminder of how much harm unsafe food can potentially cause.

In a programme aimed at supporting children and their futures, the lesson has broader implications: success cannot be measured solely by the number of meals distributed. The food delivered to beneficiaries must also meet the promised standards of safety and quality.

The goal of a nutrition programme, after all, is not simply to ensure that meals are available every day, but to make sure they provide benefits rather than expose recipients to avoidable risks. ( Mohammad Irfan)