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A technical problem with ovens has caused school lunches to arrive late today, Auckland schools have been told.
Principals criticised the lunch programme’s quality, comparing meals to “dog food” and noting lateness.
David Seymour urged principals to “take a step back”, citing “teething issues”.
A technical problem with ovens has seen school lunches arrive late across Auckland today.
It comes after principals took issue with the new lunch programme this week, comparing the meals to “dog food” while Associate Education Minister David Seymour blames the food’s lateness and poor quality on“teething issues”.
An email has been sent to Auckland schools explaining there has been a “technical problem” with the ovens.
“Other Compass kitchens around Auckland are being used to heat meals, however, we anticipate all meals will arrive late to school today.
“We apologise to you and to the students for the number of times this week the lunches have arrived late.”
McAuley High School principal Jan Waelen said they received a call at 11am to say the food was two hours away.
Waelen said they had pre-emptively bought 200 pies for their Year 9 students at school today and they were currently enjoying them on their lunch break.
The School Lunch Collective email said schools would be reimbursed for any food they purchased to feed students.
Compass managing director Paul Harvey said the issue had been resolved and they were working with affected schools to ensure they received some lunches.
He said this meant some schools were delivered additional food items while other schools were reimbursed.
One school had received two boxes of sandwiches an hour and a half after lunchtime had started.
“The School Lunch Collective apologises to schools, students and parents impacted and remains committed to resolving teething issues experienced these first days.”
It comes after reports the food was arriving at schools hours after lunchtime, of a quality well below what was promised when Seymour reformed the programme last year.
Auckland Primary Principals' Association president Kyle Brewerton said kids have been comparing the lunches to “dog food” and refusing to eat it.
“The quality was sort of being touted [last year] as something that was going to be quite nutritious and delicious, and we haven’t experienced that yet.”
Brewerton said several other issues are being presented by principals, including portions too large for youngsters and schools receiving meals hours after lunchtime had ended.
“There were quite a few cases where food did not even get delivered during school time.
“Little kids by lunchtime are not going to be learning and they’re certainly not going to be interested in school because they’ll be sitting there with rumbling tummies.”
A school lunch described as "unidentifiable pasta ball and lentils".
Labour’s education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said if the programme is riddled with “teething problems” this week, she was anxious to see how it fared next week when all students return.
“We are yet to see the full ramifications.”
She was worried about the amount of food that would be wasted if the lunches continued to be delivered late.
Tinetti said the nutritionists employed by the Ministry of Education had previously worked out a system to find what the most successful meals were and how much food schools were actually eating.
She claimed they had managed to get food waste down from 12% down to 5% with this system.
Seymour told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast that principals need to “take a step back”.
“This is a Government with a $17 billion deficit, we have managed to save $130 million on this programme while actually providing meals for more kids this year.
“We are doing something new, it is only day five, day four with school holidays in some places. So we’ve got to get a bit of a reality check.”
He said the media are taking the worst reviews and comments about the lunches to make it seem “terrible”.
Seymour argued if there were a survey of the lunches 75% of students are still getting from their parents there would be “mixed reviews” as well.
David Seymour, Associate Minister of Education, says principals need to take a step back. Photo / Michael Craig
Yesterday, an Auckland parent said their kids brought their school meal home as it was delivered after lunchtime.
“We got home and while I was working they brought it to me to eat as they tried it and it was ‘yuck’.”
The quality of the lunches had declined since the change of provider, they said.
“Kids normally loved the lunches last year and would go and check if there was any left at reception to eat or take home, they were that good.”
The family of a Sylvia Park School pupil described a different meal as an “unidentifiable pasta ball and lentils” in a post on social media.
“Not one child could stomach the food and so after offers to give food away to the local community were declined, all several hundred of these went into the rubbish,” they claimed.
“Food arrived at 2pm, one hour after lunchtime finished.”
