Children's Consumer Protection Against Packaged Sweetened Beverages at School

Abstract

: Consumption of packaged sweetened beverages (PSBs) among Indonesian children shows an alarming trend and contributes to the increase in cases of childhood obesity and diabetes. National data shows that nearly 20% of children aged 5–12 years are overweight or obese, while the prevalence of type 1 diabetes in children has also increased significantly in the last decade. This study aims to analyze the implementation of legal protection for children as vulnerable consumers of MBDK in elementary schools, with a case study at SD Muhammadiyah 13 in Medan City. The research method used a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews with 18 informants (principals, teachers, canteen managers, parents, and students) and a study of related documents. The results of the study show a gap between legal norms and field practices: although the Consumer Protection Law, Health Law, and Child Protection Law provide a strong normative basis, at the school level there are no internal regulations limiting the distribution of MBDK. Canteen economic factors, low nutritional literacy, and strong industry promotion weaken implementation. These findings confirm that legal protection has not been effectively implemented at the micro-school level. This study recommends an applicable protection model through binding technical regulations, economic incentives for canteens, integration of nutrition literacy into the curriculum, and multi-stakeholder supervision. Theoretically, this study enriches the discourse on consumer protection law by placing children as vulnerable legal subjects; practically, the results of this study can be used as a basis for formulating technical policies at the school and local government levels to reduce health risks due to MBDK consumption.