Pies to substitute healthy school lunch programme

Thursday, 13 February 2025

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The Government’s new school lunch provider is delivering a “special menu” of packaged pies – that don’t meet nutritional guidelines – on Friday because it is struggling with its production.

But Associate Education Minister David Seymour, responsible for changes made to the revised healthy school lunches programme Ka Ora Ka Ako, said “what better way” to celebrate the “successful delivery of 1 million meals”, than with a “classic Kiwi pie”.

Waverley Primary School principal Tim Marriott said he was shocked when he read the email delivered to his inbox at 1.34pm on Thursday.

“That’s disgusting, far out … I’m just horrified,” he said.

The message to schools from the School Lunch Collective – the provider for the new school lunch programme – said it would depart from its standard menu on Friday.

It would be delivering Mrs Macs Pies to all schools signed up to the programme, except for 10,000 Pita Pit meals being delivered to Auckland schools.

“We will be in touch regarding what day this option will be available to your school. We’d like to thank Pita Pit for its support and supplying these cold meals,” the message said.

As it approached the end of just three weeks of its menu, schools were coming forward with the “slop” being provided as lunches from day one – if they were delivered at all – as the provider struggled to keep up with the contracted lunch deliveries.

“We recognise that this one-off pie meal doesn’t meet nutritional guidelines, but this enables us to get on top of our food production so that we can continue to improve on delivery and ensure students receive lunch every school day,” School Lunch Collective said.

Two food items, including fruit, would be provided to year 9 and above students.

Marriott said students enjoyed healthy, balanced lunches, provided by its previous local contractor, Whanganui Pita Pit.

But since the new school lunch programme started, the number of students signed up had dwindled.

On the first day, lunches arrived in mouldy boxes and special meals were “inedible”, he said. All three students who had dietary requirements had since gone off the special menu.

Meals were being wasted as students didn’t eat them and the packaging was “so hard”, students struggled to get into them in the first place.

Students coming off the school lunches had an impact on students and families, particularly those who faced financial hardship, Marriott said.

“They’ll fill up on high sugar, high sodium, processed foods. That’s just no good for them. In terms of their concentration, their energy levels, it does have a spin-off effect.”

Last week, the provider said it had taken steps to address the issues including expanding the delivery fleet, increasing the number of production kitchens in Auckland and starting heating meals earlier.

A new supplier of special dietary meals would also be joining the collective to resolve supply and labelling issues as well as the contact centre team being doubled to eight people, Sean Teddy, Ministry of Education Hautū (leader) operations and integration said.

The new lunch programme was touted by the Government as nutritious, filling and cheap.

Seymour said on-time delivery of lunches was more than 97% this week.