David Seymour speaks with Heather du Plessis-Allan about mouldy school lunches. Video / Newstalk ZB
The school at the centre of the mouldy food scandal has launched an internal investigation as the principal maintains they never mishandled the lunches served to students and staff.
MPI earlier concluded the contaminated lunch food served to students at Haeata Community Campus was due to “human error” andlikely left out for days.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the “weight of evidence suggests” staff members at Haeata Community Campus mistakenly distributed the contaminated food.
She said she was “dismayed that such comments could be made by senior officials when the Food Safety Authority investigation is incomplete”.
The school has launched an internal investigation following conclusions drawn by the School Lunch Collective and New Zealand Food Safety.
Burrows said the findings would be released next week.
“Contrary to claims by Paul Harvey, spokesperson for Compass Group, the school’s camera footage clearly shows all cambros [food storage boxes] were collected from the school on Thursday, November 27, 2025, and no food had been left behind to sit in the sun for three days.”
Burrows maintained that none of their “robust” systems failed between Thursday and Monday when the food was served.
The lunches served at Haeata Community Campus were covered in a thick layer of mould. Photo / Supplied
“None of these systems failed on Thursday, November 27, 2025 or Monday, December 1, 2025.
“The school does not accept responsibility for the operational failure of the supplier, the Compass Group, and disagrees with statements by both Mr Harvey and New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle regarding Haeata Community Campus staff being responsible for the reheating and distribution of contaminated food.”
She said one cambro containing rubbish was left on school grounds on Wednesday, November 26, but this was collected by PFM the next day.
NZ Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the number of boxes going in and out of the school on any given day does not provide sufficient evidence that all of the leftover lunches are accounted for. Photo / Supplied
Arbuckle had previously claimed that “the number of boxes going in and out of the school on any given day does not provide sufficient evidence that all of the leftover lunches are accounted for in this case”.
Arbuckle also noted that no other schools receiving meals from the distribution centre were affected by the mould.
Burrows today claimed that no students had reported suffering from food poisoning, with current sickness “in line with regular patterns of absenteeism for this time of the school year”.
She initially told media some students had fallen sick from the food.
