David Seymour backs school lunches after Gisborne student burned

David Seymour is sticking up for his school lunch model in the face of criticism. Pictured: Lunches provided to Ilminster Intermediate School on Wednesday in the bin.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour is standing by his reformed school lunch programme, saying the provider is doing “a good job”.

This comes after a student at Ilminster Intermediate School in Gisborne suffered “second-degree burns” and was taken to hospital after a hot school lunch spilled on them.

Ilminster Intermediate principal Jonathan Poole on Thursday said the cottage pie lunches arrived quite hot, the student struggled to hold the container, and it “splattered everywhere” on the child’s leg.

“This child has basically had to be taken to A&E to be looked at, quite upset, and in a bit of pain. I’ve got two pretty upset, concerned parents.”

The student was back at school on Friday.

“Still slightly sore and a bit of a limp, but was happy to be at school,” Poole said.

NZ Food Safety launched a nationwide investigation into the incident.

School Lunch Collective spokesman Paul Harvey on Thursday said the incident was “deeply regrettable”, an investigation had started immediately and the meal had been removed from the menu as a precaution until the investigation was completed.

“Our thoughts are with the student and we wish them a speedy recovery,” Harvey said. “We take health and safety seriously and are talking to the school to see how we can support both them and the student.”

Multiple complaints have been made nationwide about the lunches, including the untimeliness of delivery, unsealed containers leaving food open to contamination, and burnt food and lunches not turning up.

Some Gisborne school principals previously said students were turning down meals out of frustration with repetitive menus.

They earlier raised concerns about the nutritional value and portion sizes of the ready-made meals, plus excessive plastic packaging.

Poole said a Ministry of Education official would visit the school later this month to share the investigation’s outcome.

Gisborne YMCA provided Ilminster with lunches under its Y Kai School Lunches initiative before the new school lunch programme took over.

Poole praised the Y Kai lunches.

“For us, it worked. We very rarely had food left over and, if it was left over, it was quickly snapped up at the end of the day by hungry kids.

“It was a system that was working for us because it was probably more regionalised. They understood our needs.”

Poole earlier said about half of the school’s 310 lunches were usually left untouched.

On Friday, he said: “Lunch today looks okay. It’s a chicken pesto pasta that is cold, funnily enough.”

RNZ reported Seymour had called Poole to apologise.

“I spoke to him and passed on my concerns about the entire lunch programme,” Poole told RNZ’s Morning Report.

“[Seymour and ministry officials] were very apologetic. Their intention is not to burn children, but yesterday the meals were far too hot.”

Associate Education Minister David Seymour said The School Lunch Collective was "doing a good job". Photo / Alex Burton

The Gisborne Herald asked Seymour if he thought the new programme was failing and whether he would agree it needed an overhaul.

He was also asked how much longer these issues could continue before a change was made.

Seymour backed the provider in his response.

“The School Lunch Collective have committed to the largest food-providing service in the country, and they are doing a good job.

“The old model cost $340 million a year while the new one only costs $170 million a year and gets the same results for children.”

He pointed out the Collective published delivery and surplus statistics on its website now, noting that 99.5% of meals were delivered on time nationwide on Thursday and 6.99% of meals were surplus, according to the website.

From Monday to Thursday this week, between 436 and 447 schools, depending on the day, were served between 118,947 and 121,456 meals.

On Monday, 99.02% of meals were on time, Tuesday saw 99.24% delivered on time and Wednesday saw 96.79% delivered on time, according to the data.

“I have been pleased to see the Collective responding to the issues raised around the school lunch programme and engaging with principals on how they’re fixing them,” Seymour said.

“They have been responsive to issues raised and are constantly making system improvements to bring the programme up to the standard they are committed to.

“My expectation is that they will continue to do so.”