Antara News·Indonesia·Monday, September 21, 2026 at 04:46 PM

Driving nutrition literacy through Indonesia's free meal program

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Hanni Sofia, Raka Adji

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Promoting the idea that meals serve a purpose beyond mere satiety lies at the heart of Indonesia's Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program. Every meal and drink carries the essential nutrients needed to grow, learn, build immunity, and form healthy eating habits that last a lifetime.

Therefore, the National Nutrition Agency’s (BGN) decision to exclude sweetened condensed milk from the MBG menu serves as a key lesson in healthy food literacy, offering an opportunity to enhance public awareness around nutrition.

BGN subsequently emphasized that dairy drink products, beverages containing milk, milk-flavored drinks, and sweetened condensed milk will not be included in the MBG menu. This rule is crucial to ensuring the program meets nutrition standards, rather than serving as a declaration that such products are entirely unsafe for consumption.

The decision carries broad significance, especially since every food product has distinct characteristics, nutritional content, functions, and intended uses. Building public awareness around consuming products strictly as intended is a crucial aspect of nutritional literacy that must be continually reinforced.

From a technical standpoint, sweetened condensed milk is produced by removing a portion of water from milk and adding sugar up to a specific concentration.

Based on guidelines from the Food and Drug Authority (BPOM), sweetened condensed milk is intended as a topping, complement, or ingredient in food and beverage preparation.

Despite containing the word "milk"—which is often associated with a nutritious diet—sweetened condensed milk is not designed to serve as a standalone source of daily nutrition for children.

Ultimately, the issue is not about the product itself, but rather how the public understands and consumes it.

With so many food choices available today, families must be equipped to read labels, check sugar levels, understand ingredients, and know what each product is actually meant for.

Nutritional needs

Clinical nutrition specialist at Qolbu Insan Mulia Hospital in Batang, Dr. Osa Endiputra, MSc, SpGK, AIFO-K, cautioned the public against equating sweetened condensed milk with the milk used to help meet children’s daily nutritional needs.

The sugar content in sweetened condensed milk outweighs the essential nutrients required to support a child’s growth and development.

"Sweetened condensed milk is not milk. Be careful, sweetened condensed milk is not milk; it is sugar," Osa said, emphasizing the importance of proper consumption habits.

This is deemed essential as nutritional health is not determined by a single food or beverage, but by overall diet, intake volume, food variety, and a balanced intake of nutrients.

Regular consumption of high-sugar drinks increases the risk of overweight, obesity, tooth decay, and non-communicable diseases as children reach adulthood. Moreover, the habit of consuming overly sweet foods and drinks early in life can permanently shape a child’s taste preferences.

When a child gets used to a high level of sweetness, foods with natural flavors become far less appealing. In some cases, this habit can make kids resistant to eating the nutritious foods they actually need.

Another key point to understand is that feeling full does not necessarily mean a child has received adequate nutrition.

While it is true that sugar is a source of energy, a child's growth requires a far more diverse nutritional intake. Proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates, and other nutrients each play distinct roles in supporting physical growth and cognitive development.

Consequently, consuming sweetened condensed milk daily in place of other nutrient sources risks instilling fundamentally flawed consumption habits.

Promoting a balanced, healthy diet is essential as Indonesia strives to elevate child nutrition standards, tackling stunting while facing growing risks of obesity and non-communicable diseases.

Nutrition education

Today's nutritional challenges can no longer be viewed strictly as an issue of food shortages since they also stem from quality, variety, and balance in consumption.

Moving forward, MBG represents a strategic policy that can also serve as a vehicle for nutrition education. The program is not merely about how much food is provided, but how the meals served can introduce better eating habits to children.

However, nutrition education cannot rely on school menus alone. Families still play the most critical role in shaping lifelong eating habits.

Parents have a big influence in introducing dietary variety, helping children appreciate natural flavors, and offering simple explanations for why the body needs different types of food.

Restrictions or bans imposed without understanding will only lead to temporary compliance. True understanding, on the other hand, fosters habits that last.

Therefore, policy decisions regarding the MBG menu should ideally go hand in hand with stronger education on balanced nutrition for children, parents, schools, and the wider public.

Nutritional literacy is ultimately a form of empowerment. A well-informed public will no longer make dietary choices based solely on product names, packaging, taste, or mere habit. They have the ability to read, compare, and choose their food wisely based on their needs.

At the end of the day, improving the nation's nutritional health does not always start with complex measures. Often, it begins with basic awareness: differentiating between satiety and

nutrition, understanding the actual function of a product, reading food labels, and helping children get used to enjoying a varied, balanced diet.

The dining table is far more than a place to satisfy hunger. It is where food literacy is introduced, habits are formed, and healthy choices are first learned.

When children learn from an early age that the body needs more than just tasty food that satisfies hunger, a strong foundation for good health is laid and passed down. Ultimately, it is through the small choices made on the plate that the quality of future generations is shaped.

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