Indonesian families whose children were offered free school meals are joining non-profit groups calling for the flagship government programme to be suspended after thousands of students fell ill from the food.

Cases of food poisoning spiked last week in West Bandung, a district of Java island, when more than 1,300 children were rushed to health clinics after suffering from breathing difficulties, nausea and diarrhoea, local media reported.

President Prabowo Subianto's initiative was touted as a way to tackle a child nutrition crisis but the government has instead had to suspend dozens of production kitchens.

"This programme should be stopped and replaced with cash," said 50-year-old grandmother Aminah, who goes by one name and whose seven-year-old grandson got sick after a free meal.

"I'd rather the kids bring their own lunch from home."

The disastrous rollout comes as Prabowo is working to move on from violent anti-government protests fuelled by deep inequality in Indonesia, where stunting spurred by malnutrition affects more than 20 percent of children.

But nine months after the programme........

© International Business Times