Is there something fishy about fried shark in Indonesia’s free meals programme?

Indonesia’s well-intentioned free meals programme for schools has come under fire again – not for food poisoning, but for ingredient choice. In West Kalimantan, where 25 students fell ill last week, critics are biting in their assessment of one of the dishes served – fried shark.

Over 6,000 students have reportedly come down with food poisoning since January’s launch of the nutritious lunch scheme, which aims to cover more than 80 million children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers by next year.

While the cause has been traced to contaminated fried tofu, chicken in soy sauce and a number of fruit and vegetable dishes, administrators at a school in Ketapang blamed the food poisoning on the dish of shark fillet with tomato sauce on the menu.

Critics questioned why the fish, with its potentially high mercury content, was selected to feed the children, prompting a rebuttal from the authorities.

Indonesia’s National Nutrition Agency Deputy Head Nanik Deyang said shark meat was part of the diet in that region.