Concerns over the government’s school lunch programme have intensified after a Gisborne student suffered second-degree burns from an overheated meal, prompting urgent reforms.
The School Lunch Collective, run by international provider Compass Group, has been ordered to immediately stop serving certain pre-packaged meals following multiple safety complaints. Schools have reported dangerously hot plastic packaging, issues with meal temperatures, and even plastic contamination in food. Some staff have resorted to using rubber gardening gloves to handle the overheated meals.
The Ministry of Education is now requiring Compass to provide daily visual proof of meal quality, delivery times, and waste management. The move comes after multiple principals raised concerns about inconsistencies in how meals are heated and cooled before reaching students.
At Ilminster Intermediate in Gisborne, principal Jonathan Poole said the heating process wasn’t suited to the region. “Our students are getting meals that haven’t had enough time to cool properly,” he says. One of his students was burned when a Wattie’s cottage pie meal, overheated in its plastic packaging, spilled onto his leg. “He’s been walking with a limp and was still shaken when he returned to school,” says Poole.
Christchurch’s Haeata School has also experienced issues. Principal Peggy Burrows said meals, which are prepared off-site and flown into the region, are often “nuked” during reheating. “If you’re the first school on the delivery chain, like we are, the meals are too hot to handle by the time they reach students,” she explained.
Despite being grateful for the free lunches, both principals say urgent changes are needed. Many students are now rejecting the meals altogether, with parents also unwilling to take them home due to poor quality. “They need to get it right,” says Burrows.
The Ministry of Education has now banned Compass from serving certain pre-packaged meals, saying they were never intended to be reheated in commercial ovens. New Zealand Food Safety has also launched an investigation into the matter.
While government officials have acknowledged “kinks in the system” and promised improvements, educators stress that these issues should have been resolved long before a student was injured.