School lunch scheme 'far from fixed' after eight months

"It doesn't feel like they are made with love, it feels like they are made with hate," says one high school student about the government's revamped school lunches scheme, run by the School Lunch Collective.

Eight months after the new provider took over the free school meals scheme, dropping the cost of each meal down to $3, some schools say meals have shrunk, waste has skyrocketed and a lack of nutrition is taking a toll on learning.

Despite Associate Education Minister David Seymour's claim it would be sorted out by term two, the schools say things are far from sorted in term four.

At James Cook High School in Manurewa, it was another busy morning for lunch co-ordinator Olivia Marks on Tuesday as she sorted about 1800 lunches.

She has worked across the old school lunches model and the new one, re-hired by the school to help serve the meals made and delivered by Compass group.

She said the biggest issue was a lack of variety.

"You always need to be changing up the menu a little bit, giving them something different. I think this week we've got four mince meals."

Students lining up at the canteen at lunchtime are grateful for the free lunches. But they said things could be improved.

"Last year was way better yeah, they're not made with love, it's not at all, it kind of tastes like it's made with hate.

"Then we have no choice but to eat it because we're all hungry," one student told Checkpoint.

Cutting the cost down to $3 a meal from $8 has shrunk the meals, and nutritionists say that means they could only be providing 14-20 percent of daily energy needs.

Some students said one meal was nowhere near enough.

"I usually get like eight or seven [meals] I see heaps of people get, seven like us, and it goes around the place, like rubbish and stuff.

"I reckon if it was bigger, there would be much less rubbish in the school, and yeah, probably make us more full."

Another student said smaller meals did not give them enough energy: "There's a big effect around our school, just students walking into classes, not learning, due to not enough food portions that they get."

Waste is a huge issue. Under the old lunch scheme, Marks said they were able to give leftover meals to the community.

But now they were sending hundreds back to Compass each day.

"Yesterday we had probably 24 boxes and we sent 11 back."

One student told Checkpoint a lack of variation in the meals was behind the waste. "We do have students asking their friends for lunch and that, which is quite sad because it's just showing that the uses of the lunch being the same every day is not useful."

Another said there were a lot of unopened packages on the floor.

Manurewa High School in South Auckland runs its own kitchen and serves lunches that it said are larger, nutritionally balanced and get eaten.

They prepare 2000 meals a day on site for their students, as well as three local primary schools.

Principal Pete Jones said their internal model worked, but the budget per meal was far too low.

"It's too tight and everybody knows that, but the mass-produced model, it's not what's right for our kids."

Jones said waste was minimal, and any leftovers went out to community groups.

Manurewa High lunch coordinator Stephen Smith said with half the budget, it had been a challenge in the kitchen.

"We've had to reduce the portion size and the way that we've reduced our [amount of] protein, tried to keep the starches up and increase the sauce slightly."

But they have a big focus on a variety of meals, which students said meant they got eaten.

"Having a free meal every day and knowing that every student gets a to be fed, it's very nice."

"Not every student has an opportunity at home to have good food and so your money is not being wasted."

Other schools want to be given the option to run their own kitchens like Manurewa High School and to see an increase in nutrition standards and funding for school lunches.

In a statement to Checkpoint, the School Lunch Collective said: "We've invested in working with schools and the MOE to improve the way used meal trays are sorted easily amongst the food waste, this has reduced time and made the sorting more effective at our recycling facility.

"We encourage schools to return as many meal trays as possible so drivers can collect them for processing."

Fifty-four percent of meal trays are recycled at waste management provider.

"The School Lunch Collective serves 435 schools around 95,000 meals each day. The average number of surplus meals is around 10%."

In a statement Associate Education Minister David Seymour told Checkpoint: "Overall, feedback from New Zealand schools and students is positive and shows real improvement.

"Three out of four students rated the new Term 3 menu positively - any parent would be happy with that. The nutritional standards remain the same as they did under the previous programme.

"Schools can adjust their orders to better match attendance and prevent waste, and we strongly encourage them to do so.

"I'm pleased that we're delivering all of this while saving taxpayers over $130 million each year. An update will come soon on schools transitioning from the internal model to the Collective from Term 1 2026."

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