\u201cWe respectfully declined, saying the lack of \u0101konga [student] uptake had more to do with the quality of the food than the lack of need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haeata Community Campus\u2019s lunch allocation has been cut by 80 meals. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n
Kalah Blair, the mother of a student at Haeata Community Campus, told the Herald her daughter went to collect her lunch as usual on Monday, only to discover there were none left.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s supposed to be enough meals for every student, so to have them miss out is quite disturbing,\u201d Blair said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just so much rigmarole and now they\u2019re cutting the amount of food that they\u2019re giving out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re too hot, they\u2019re too cold, there\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrea Williams, Ministry of Education group general manager, national services and programmes said schools are responsible for regularly reviewing meal numbers to make sure they align with demand and the number of students attending school each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a small number of schools across the programme reporting high surplus and have yet to reduce meal orders,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrder numbers are normally adjusted a week in advance and we actively work with suppliers and schools to right-size meal orders and find more meals that students like to eat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work closely with schools and meals providers to trial new meals with students and adjust menus based on feedback received, including food quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams said there are many reasons why meal numbers can change, such as teacher-only days, attendance fluctuation, a school event , students bringing lunches\/snacks from home, or a particular meal or component, eg vegetables, is not popular.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know it is difficult to please all 240,000 students receiving a lunch every day and what is popular at one school may have a different result at another school \u2013 even in the same region,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Williams said for a few schools, including Haeata Community Campus, they had taken the \u201cunusual step\u201d of adjusting the maximum lunch order (MLO) with the supplier directly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MLO will always allow for additional students to have a lunch and meal numbers can be adjusted up or down, as required,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Williams said throughout 2026, Haeata Community Campus was ordering around 480 meals per day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is despite average attendance this year being 11% lower than the number of meals ordered, with only 71% of available meals being eaten by students who were present at school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Term 3, the maximum order number was reduced by 80 meals to 400 per day, which still allows for additional meals to be made available for hungry students.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pleased to hear that the first meal of Term 3 was well received by students at Haeata and surplus negligible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn comparison, surplus from lunch today (day two, Term 3) was above the 10% target. We expect schools to work with suppliers to adjust meal numbers based on expected demand fluctuations that can occur.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work within the programme budget and funding saved from making sure meal orders are in line with school\u2019s requirements, are reinvested back into the programme either by inviting newly eligible schools or to support meal providers with inflation pressures and their ability to add more variety to a menu.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2026, there have so far been over 20 million meals delivered to students, and we are committed that every student who needs a lunch, gets one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Education is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the school lunch programme, a spokesperson said. <\/p>\n
The spokesperson added the ministry is not required to inform the Minister\u2019s office before reducing the number of meals at individual schools.<\/p>\n
Associate Education Minister David Seymour said allocating meals based on attendance is \u201ccommon sense\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen surplus is high, the media attack the programme. When the programme adopts a commonsense change to bring surplus down, the media attack that,\u201d Seymour said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf students aren\u2019t at school, they can\u2019t eat the lunches.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re delivering a programme to deliver for students and respects the taxpayer. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the sorts of changes we\u2019ve made to meet those goals, and which have saved the taxpayer $360 million.\u201d <\/p>\n
Haeata Community Campus mouldy lunches<\/p>\n
Haeata Community Campus came into the spotlight at the end of last year after mouldy school lunches were served at the school<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Ministry for Primary Industries earlier concluded the contaminated lunch food served to students at Haeata Community Campus was due to \u201chuman error\u201d and likely left out for days.<\/p>\n New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said at the time the \u201cweight of evidence suggests\u201d staff members at Haeata Community Campus mistakenly distributed the contaminated food.<\/p>\nThe lunches served at Haeata Community Campus were covered in a thick layer of mould.<\/p>\n