TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Nutrition expert from the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Ikeu Tanziha, stated that bread, eggs, cereals, and dates will be the main menu in the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) during Ramadan 2025. She mentioned that the nutritional content in a portion of the menu already meets the standard.

"The nutritional standard remains in line with the usual nutritional standards," she said when contacted on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

She explained that the nutritional standard for students varies at each level. The adequacy of nutrition for early childhood education students up to grade 3 is 20 to 25 percent, while for students from grade 4 to high school, the adequacy of nutrition is 30 to 35 percent.

Additionally, she stated that their agency's decision to change the MBG menu during fasting is to anticipate food becoming stale. According to her, food stored for about 11 hours has the potential to cause insecurity in the food.

"Therefore, it was decided to have dry food," she said.

Nevertheless, she mentioned that each Regional Food Procurement and Distribution Agency (SPPG) can innovate and create new food menus during Ramadan. As long as, she said, they maintain quality, food safety, and comply with the established nutritional standards.

The head of BGN, Dadan Hindayana, requested an evaluation of the nutritional content in the free nutritious meal menu during Ramadan 2025. "Some will be asked to increase their calorie and protein value," Dadan said when contacted on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

He stated that the improvement of the nutritional content in the free nutritious meal menu is only done for areas where the majority of recipients are fasting. Meanwhile, for areas where the majority of recipients are not fasting, they will continue to produce normal menus as usual. However, he did not specify which areas fall into this category.

Editor's Choice: Bread to Dates on Free Meal Menu During Ramadan, National Nutrition Agency to Evaluate Content

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