The rotten food served to students at Haeata Community Campus. Photo: Supplied / Haeata Community Campus
The Christchurch school that served mouldy lunches to students has not released the findings of its own internal investigation into the matter.
About 20 mince and potato meals covered in mould were served to children at Haeata Community Campus on 1 December.
The school had since been at odds with New Zealand Food Safety and provider the School Lunch Collective over how it happened.
Food Safety's investigation found "the most plausible explanation" was lunches meant to be served the week before were accidentally mixed with that day's meals.
Haeata Community Campus principal Peggy Burrows said Food Safety's report into the lunch provider's operations was shared publicly before the school had any opportunity to review or respond to it.
"The school does not accept the conclusions in that report, given its own investigations findings, but is open to engaging with MPI, as this investigation has been complicated by the lack of batch traceability."
Burrows earlier said the school was conducting its own investigation that would be complete by 12 December and it would review the findings alongside the Food Safety report.
She would not comment on the findings of the internal investigation or whether they would be shared publicly.
NZ Food Safety investigators concluded the most plausible explanation was a mix-up at the school and there were no food safety risks associated with the School Lunch Collective supplier Compass Group.
Burrows said the school was focused on promoting the welfare of its students, including ensuring the safety of food served to students.
Haeata Community Campus presiding board member Kelly Gibson also declined to comment.
Last week, Associate Education Minister David Seymour said the school caused "major drama" by speaking out about the mouldy lunches.
He said it was unfortunate the food safety watchdog first heard about the problem from the media rather than the school.
"I just wish this hadn't been necessary. If everyone had just kept a cool head and no-one had run off to the media and they'd gone through the proper process putting child safety number one and child education number two, then this report would have been issued and and no one would have heard much about it."
New Zealand Food Safety made eight recommendations following the investigation, saying improvements to tracing and reporting processes would reduce the risk of a repeat.
They included:
- Improving communication about the handling of Cambro containers and considering their full traceabililty
- Better management of leftover meals
- Clarifying responsibilities for managing school meals
- Reviewing processes around food safety
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