Whangarei Intermediate School was forced to send back school lunches that arrived in an inedible state. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
Whangarei Intermediate School was forced to send back school lunches that arrived in an inedible state. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
Five Northland schools have reported issues with meal quality and delivery failures since the start of the school year, with some having to buy replacement meals.
Ministry of Education hautū (leader) operations and integration Sean Teddy said it and school lunch supplier Compass Group’s School Lunch Collectivereceived and recorded feedback from schools and replied to all queries.
“From Northland, we have received feedback from five schools in term one. Two schools experienced delivery issues and three schools have raised a concern about the quality of the meals.”
Teddy said the meals did not pose any risk to students.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is investigating issues with School Lunch Collective but there has been no formal inquiry into Northland’s complaints.
NZ Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the investigation was prompted by complaints about inaccurate labelling of special dietary meals in school lunches in Christchurch.
Whangārei Intermediate School had issues with its lunches last week when the food arrived improperly sealed and burnt. The school opted not to serve the unsealed lunches as some had spilled over the special dietary meals.
Whangarei Intermediate School was forced to send back school lunches that arrived in an inedible state. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
The school said they were told by a regional ministry adviser not to serve the lunches for fear that some special dietary meals could have been tainted.
More than 100 pizzas were ordered to feed students who had missed out on the lunches.
Teddy said schools were reimbursed for the cost of those meals.
Arbuckle said they were aware of the issue raised at Whangārei Intermediate School and no formal investigation was needed.
NZ Food Safety Deputy Director-General Vincent Arbuckle.
The issues related to food quality rather than food safety, he said.
“On this occasion, once information was available to assess, we considered there was no food safety risk as the meals were transported in a covered box and the plastic was intact, therefore foreign matter would not enter the product. No formal investigation was needed.”
Arbuckle said they would work with the Ministry of Education to ensure good processes were in place so meals were properly heated.
Teddy said the ministry was working with the collective to resolve implementation challenges.
“There has been no action taken to change the current school lunch model, and we are working with the School Lunch Collective to increase production and delivery capacity to meet the obligations outlined in the services agreement.”
The collective’s Paul Harvey said the labelling error in Christchurch was quickly rectified, and they welcomed visits from MPI.
“Our kitchens are verified and audited regularly by independent MPI accredited specialists, and we follow the Food Act and Food Control Plans. We have put additional processes in place, including additional data checks, to mitigate any future dispath eispatch errors.”
