Raising Students’ Awareness to Reduce Food Waste in the MBG Program
Learning while playing becomes an effective way to encourage changes in habits. This was evident when students of SDN Banjarsari 5, Serang City, Banten, enthusiastically participated in two educational games themed on healthy consumption and reducing food waste, namely Rescue the Food and Isi Piringku.
These interactive games became part of the GIZI FOOD program (Innovative Movement for Zero Food Waste and Optimization of Vegetable and Fruit Consumption in MBG Schools) initiated by the Homecoming Lectures (Dospulkam) team from IPB University, 9/30.
A team representative, Yayat Heryatno, SP, MPS, mentioned this program was present as an effort to build students’ awareness to be wiser in consuming food, increase interest in consuming vegetables and fruit, as well as reduce the potential food waste from the Nutritious Free Meal (MBG) program.
In the first game, Rescue the Food, students learned about food leftovers through a card-based game. The second game, Isi Piringku, challenged students to fill in an illustration of a meal menu with ingredients according to nutritional groups and their functions.
“We are present with the hope that every plate of food is not only nutritious, but also environmentally friendly and supports a healthier future,” said the team leader, Resa Ana Dina, SKM, MEpid.
The principal of SDN Banjarsari 5, Anton Setiabudi, expressed full support for this program. He said that SDN Banjarsari 5 became the pilot school to receive the MBG program for the first time in Serang City, Banten.
The school’s achievement in maintaining environmental sustainability was also proven by receiving the Provincial Level Adiwiyata School award, which shows SDN Banjarsari 5’s commitment to integrating environmentally friendly principles.
In line with these achievements, SDN Banjarsari 5 also continuously innovates, one of which is through processing MBG food waste using maggots from January to July 2025.
Students of the Nutrition Science Study Program also helped strengthen the message through education on the importance of finishing food, consuming vegetables and fruit, the connection between food waste and MBG, as well as ways to utilize food waste. Other lecturers involved included Dr Yayuk Farida Baliwati, Prof Ikeu Tanziha, and Prof Dadang Sukandar.
After the educational session, the students were allowed to consume the MBG that had been distributed according to the schedule. All students were quite enthusiastic. The menu at that time consisted of rice, stewed chicken, stir-fried mustard greens with green beans and carrots, fried tofu, and longan.
Almost all students liked and finished the MBG menu. Indeed, there were still some students who did not finish the rice, giving reasons such as already being full and so on.
“Hopefully, through this program, the students of SDN Banjarsari 5 can finish the MBG as a way to prevent food waste in the school environment,” hoped Resa. (*/Rz) (IAAS/KMR)
