Jakarta (ANTARA) - Trade Minister Budi Santoso has said that the government’s plan to ease the imports of food trays or compartmentalized food containers is aimed at meeting high domestic demand due to the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program.

“Food tray imports are being opened up for the sake of the MBG program because we need a large quantity of those products,” he informed here on Monday.

He clarified that the government has never restricted local businesses from participating in the supply of food trays.

According to the minister, imports will only be considered if domestic producers are unable to meet the high demand of food trays for MBG.

“If the domestic market cannot meet the need, we will allow imports. We are not banning the use of domestic products, but imports are also allowed because the demand is very large,” he said.

The government is deregulating import policies by relaxing rules on 10 commodities.

They include forestry products, subsidized fertilizers, plastic raw materials, other fuels, saccharin, cyclamate (artificial sweetener), alcohol-based aromatic preparations, certain chemicals, pearls, food trays, footwear, and two- and three-wheeled bicycles.

Earlier, the National Standardization Agency (BSN) issued the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) 9369:2025 for stainless steel food trays for the MBG program.

“This standard was set on June 18, 2025, through BSN Head’s Decree No. 182/KEP/BSN/6/2025. It is a new standard developed independently by Technical Committee 77-02 on Downstream Metal Products,” BSN’s deputy for standard development, Hendro Kusumo, informed.

Through the standard, the government wants to ensure that the food trays used in the MBG program are safe, durable, and free of harmful substances.

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