Mouldy and liquefied mince served to students at a Christchurch school had likely been left out for days without refrigeration before being re-served alongside freshly-delivered meals, according to a New Zealand Food Safety investigation.
The meals were served to several students at Haeata Community Campus on Monday as part of the Government’s free lunch programme.
Haeata Community Campus principal Peggy Burrows told 1News all lunches had been recalled but some had already been eaten by students.
She said staff members usually ate with the kids and that, when a staff member opened one of the lunches up, they found it mouldy and liquefied.
A complaint was made to provider School Lunches Collective immediately following the incident.
A New Zealand Food Safety investigation into the incident concluded on Tuesday it was “more than likely that the affected meals at the school had been delivered the previous Thursday, remained at the school without refrigeration, and then were accidentally re-served to students along fresh meals delivered on Monday”.
“This would explain the deterioration of the meals.”
School Lunch Collective lead Paul Harvey told 1News in a statement: “We appreciate the prompt and professional work undertaken by New Zealand Food Safety. Their visit to our Christchurch kitchen and to Haeata Community Campus has provided helpful clarity about what occurred. Their investigation indicates that the most likely cause of this incident was meals from last week being inadvertently distributed on Monday.
“While the investigation continues, this finding aligns with our internal checks and with what our teams observed on the day.”
Harvey said nine cambro boxes of the savoury mince and potatoes meals were delivered to Haeata Community Campus on Thursday, November 27. “However, records show only 8 were returned to us. One cambro box has sat at ambient temperatures at the school since that date.”
Haeata Community Campus principal Peggy Burrows told Breakfast it was the most “horrific sight”. (Source: Breakfast)
This evening, Burrows said the school was “pleased to report that attendance rates have not been adversely affected after the incident yesterday”.
“Families/whānau have been proactive in ensuring any unwell students/ākonga have been seen by a doctor and no cases of food poisoning have been reported to the school.”
Burrows also refuted the findings of the NZ Food Safety investigation, saying no food had been left on the premises.
However, Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomed the findings.
“From the outset, this was always the likely outcome,” Seymour said on X.
“When an allegation could damage a company’s reputation, frighten parents, and undermine confidence in a programme feeding thousands of kids, the minimum standard should be to test those claims against the evidence.”
Seymour said the “real tragedy” was for Haeata Community Campus’ students.
“Over the last 24 hours their principal has found time for endless media interviews, attempting to politicise a mistake made by her school and create a controversy to smear others. That is not an educator’s role. The first responsibility of a school is to its students’ learning and wellbeing, not to run a media campaign.
“My thoughts are with parents whose children have been affected by this debacle.”
