Idoh's daughters were excited when their primary school started serving free lunches last month.
But just two weeks in, after eating a dish of chicken, rice, tofu and salad, she said her children felt sick and needed medical treatment.
She said her younger daughter "wanted to vomit, but couldn't" while her older daughter vomited and was treated in a makeshift emergency clinic near their school in Cipongkor, West Java.
"This has never happened before. Two weeks ago, everything was fine," Idoh said.
The meals were served as part of Indonesia's free meal program, known locally as "Makan Bergizi Gratis" (MBG), which was launched earlier this year.
A key campaign promise by President Prabowo Subianto, the program was designed to combat malnutrition by providing daily meals to schoolchildren and pregnant women.
But critics say the rollout has been plagued by poor oversight, questionable food sourcing and unhygienic kitchen conditions.
Fried shark, maggots and glass shards
Sixteen-year-old student Neng Laras is one of thousands of Indonesian children who have fallen ill after consuming meals from the MBG program.
Laras also reported feeling nauseous after finishing her free meal at school.
"I didn't vomit, but other students did," Laras said.
In West Java alone, where Laras and Idoh live, more than 1,000 students were recently treated for severe stomach pain, dizziness and shortness of breath.
In Mamuju, West Sulawesi, dozens of students were poisoned, allegedly due to expired sauce.
In Ketapang, West Kalimantan, at least 25 students and teachers were reported poisoned after eating MBG meals last month.
One of the menu items was fried shark.
Agus Kurniawi, MBG's regional head in West Kalimantan, admitted the inclusion of shark meat was a serious lapse in food selection because of issues with its storage and the risk of mercury.
Students in Tuban, East Java, and in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, found maggots in their meals, while others in Batam, Riau Islands, reportedly found shards of glass in rice.
As of this week, according to data compiled by the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives, a public health think tank, 7,830 children across the archipelago have received food poisoning from the MBG program, suffering symptoms including nausea and vomiting.
Many have been hospitalised.
According to the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network, a civil society group, the total number of poisoning victims stands at 6,452, while the government's official count as of September 25 is 5,914.
The food poisoning cases have prompted hundreds of mothers in Yogyakarta, Central Java, to take to the streets, banging pots and pans in protest and demanding the program be suspended.
"In the village, banging pots loudly and in unison is a symbol of an emergency," Kalis Mardiasih, a mother and women's rights activist, told the ABC.
"We do this so our voices reach the ears of policymakers."
Prabowo 'quite proud' of program
The National Nutrition Agency (Badan Gizi Nasional or BGN), which oversees the program, has acknowledged the crisis.
In a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, BGN revealed that 18 of the 19 problematic kitchens were newly built and had been operating for less than a month.
The agency cited poor ingredient selection and storage, inadequate cleaning of kitchen tools and food distribution times exceeding safety standards as causes of the incidents.
BGN chief Dadan Hindayana promised tighter supervision, although refused to label the incidents food poisoning.
"I wouldn't call it poisoning, but rather digestive disturbance … because the quality of the meals served was no longer fresh," Mr Hindayana told Indonesian weekly Tempo.
"There were several contributing factors, and we admit negligence. For that, we sincerely apologise."
Responding to the number of poisoning victims, President Prabowo Subianto reminded the public that more than 1 billion meals had benefited nearly 30 million people.
Considering that, he said the number of food poisoning cases was relatively small.
"That deviation is just 0.0017 per cent — quite a proud achievement," Mr Prabowo said.
He added that improvements would continue, including equipping MBG kitchens with better washing facilities, water filters, food test kits, cook training and hygiene certification.
Despite the criticism, many have praised the benefits of the program.
Muhammad Ramli, a teacher at a high school in Central Kalimantan, said he was grateful for MBG and "hopes it can help meet all students' nutritional needs".
Maya Melinda, from Bogor, West Java, washes food containers at one of the kitchens and said she was thankful for the new job.
'It deeply hurt the public'
Community nutritionist Tan Shot Yen said Mr Prabowo's remarks "deeply hurt the public".
"In a shoe factory, a margin of error of zero point something might be acceptable, but here, we're talking about human lives," Dr Tan told ABC.
Founder and CEO of the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI), Diah Saminarsih, said the root cause of the food poisoning cases wasn't whether the kitchens were new or old but rather the government's lack of thought-out planning.
"There was no scientific consideration in this program, its basis was entirely political," Ms Saminarsih told the ABC.
"How can a program with a budget of Rp335 trillion ($30.5 million) not have a legal foundation?"
The free nutritious meal program was a key campaign commitment of Mr Prabowo during last year's presidential election.
Ms Saminarsih said the program was then rushed to fulfil the political promise, with an ambitious target of nearly 83 million beneficiaries in its first year.
That figure, nearly five times the original goal of 17.5 million, requires the National Nutrition Agency to build another 22,000 kitchens by the end of the year.
"We're questioning why the scale was set so high from the start … why not prioritise certain locations first, like starting with underdeveloped regions?"
She said CISDI had called on the government to suspend the program while a proper framework is put in place.
"There are no clear regulations outlining the roles of local governments, the central government, or MBG kitchens, including whether oversight is required."
This week the government announced that Mr Prabowo would soon sign a presidential regulation aimed at improving the program and its legal foundations.
Dr Tan also urged the National Nutrition Agency to take on advice from various stakeholders to improve the program.
"It's sad that all expert recommendations and input have so far been treated by BGN as criticism," he said.
"They haven't listened to epidemiologists, public nutrition experts, clinical nutritionists or public health professionals."
Dr Tan argued that alternatives, such as schools with independent canteens and kitchens using local ingredients, could serve as models for MBG kitchens in remote areas, ensuring fresher and safer meals.
And examples already exist.
Learning from a school kitchen in Central Java
Ten years before Mr Prabowo launched the MBG program, an Islamic elementary school in Solo, Central Java, had already been thinking about how to provide nutritious and healthy meals for its students.
Winarsi, a teacher at SD Muhammadiyah 1 Ketelan Solo, said the school's healthy kitchen, established in 2015, was a project supported by the local health centre and regional health department.
"We already meet the requirements recently set by the government for MBG kitchens, including nutritional supervision and food safety checks from the local health department," she said.
Every day, five cooks prepare lunch for 700 students.
The menu, priced at Rp10,000 per portion (about $1), is planned monthly by a nutritionist and circulated in advance to parents and students for feedback.
"Thank God, we've never had any incidents," Winarsi said.
Ironically, the decade-old kitchen now faces closure, as the school is being asked to adopt the MBG program.
Some parents are pushing the government to consider alternative solutions, such as letting schools manage their own kitchens under the MBG program.
While SD Muhammadiyah 1 Ketelan Solo awaits its fate, Dr Tan and Ms Saminarsih say rather than shutting its kitchen down MBG should be learning from its success.
Additional reporting by Ari Wu and Tri Ardhya
