Kitchen staff prepare food for Melville Primary School pupils. Photo: Ke-Xin Li
The Education Ministry says 30 suppliers have applied to deliver the government's Healthy School Lunches programme to non-intermediate primary schools next year.
Cabinet previously decided the schools would join the coalition's cheaper $3-a-meal approach from 1 January, 2026.
Last month, the government put out a tender for suppliers, which closed on Thursday.
The contract is for delivery to 196 "contributing" schools - which have pupils up to year 6 - that receive the meals from an external supplier rather than making them at the school, or getting them from a local iwi or hapū.
The supplier would be announced late October.
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