A Whangārei intermediate school was forced to order at least 100 pizzas for students after their Government-funded lunches arrived late, burnt and leaking.
Concerned about food safety, Whangārei Intermediate School decided to supply pizza instead of serving the spaghetti and meatballs that were burnt and some unsealed.
The incident is the latest criticism of the school lunch programme, adding fuel to the growing national debate over the quality of the Government-funded meals.
The school lunches are provided by the School Lunch Collective - formed through a partnership between Compass Group NZ, Gilmours and Libelle Group - after it won the contract for providing meals to primary, intermediate and secondary schools, for qualifying students in Years 7-8.
The ministry said it was working with the school and the School Lunch Collective to resolve the issue. The collective is investigating the issue.
As of Term 1, 2025, the collective has served over 127,000 students daily in more than 466 schools nationwide.
Whangārei Intermediate lunch co-ordinator Judy Thompson was disappointed with what arrived at the school on Friday.
“Apart from the fact they were half an hour late, we didn’t have enough: we usually get eight boxes and we got four. When we started to unpack them they had been leaking, not sealed properly and had been burnt.”
“This is not pleasant at all. I couldn’t give it to the children, they could get sick. Because of this their lunch was later than usual and we will have to send the meals back.”
She said generally the children were happy with the meals, but had said they were tired of rice and chicken.
“It would be nice to have more variety.”
Principal Hayley Read said the meal budgets were slashed from $7 to $3 per child under new Government policies.
She questioned whether cost-cutting had gone too far – especially when food was ending up in the bin rather than in students’ stomachs.
“Previously they spent $7 per child and when [David] Seymour came in he cut that to $3 per child in efforts to save money. But are we really saving money if the lunches are going to waste?”
In meetings with other school leadership teams, the topic of school lunches was discussed frequently.
Tai Tokerau Principals Association president Brendon Morrisey said some schools were happy and some were not.
“Some are lucky to not have cuts and have the same provider.”
He slammed the decision to cut the school lunches budget, saying it was not sustainable.
“Seymour’s idea to cut lunches [budget] was ridiculous. I would love to see him eat a lunch for $4 a day … it has been diabolical, they just haven’t gotten this formula right.”
In a statement to RNZ the School Lunch Collective’s Paul Harvey apologised to the school.
“The School Lunch Collective apologises to the students and teachers at Whangarei Intermediate for the issues with delivery today and that the meals did not meet our standards.
“A delivery error meant only half the meals were delivered to the school. This has been subsequently addressed.”
MoE hautū (leader) for operations and integration Sean Teddy said the ministry was working closely with the School Lunch Collective to resolve any delivery or quality control issues as quickly as possible.
He said the aim of the programme was to ensure every student received a nutritious and enjoyable meal.
“In any situation where students have not received a palatable lunch, schools and kura are aware they can purchase food items for their students, the cost of which will be reimbursed. The School Lunch Collective is investigating this issue, which we understand relates to a quality control issue with the meal packaging.”
“The Service Agreement with Compass Group (as the lead for the School Lunch Collective) requires them to meet stringent performance targets and contractual requirements, which includes service levels and metrics for implementation and change management, meal provision (including food quality and safety and nutritional standards), service delivery and reliability, performance and feedback, sustainability, waste and surplus management, business continuity and contingency, and continuous improvement,” Teddy said.