Education Ministry suspends Bells Produce after Kaitaia College students served raw chicken

The principal at Kaitaia College says another 14 students have food poisoning symptoms after raw chicken was served to students yesterday.

The school has come under fire after reports students needed to be hospitalised after getting the “disgusting” chicken, while the Ministry of Education has suspended school lunch provider Bells Produce Ltd pending an investigatation.

Louise Ānaru told Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan she was “so relieved” her students were okay today.

She said students ran into her office to show her the raw chicken.

Ānaru said she rang through the school intercom and told students not to eat the chicken.

“We wanted to know, straight away, what could we do to minimise the possibility of food poisoning,” she said.

Ānaru said three students had symptoms yesterday.

“I can tell you from today, we phoned the parents of students who were absent today, another 14 had food poisoning symptoms,” she said.

There were no reports of hospitalisations, she said.

A mother of one student took her son home after he ate some of the chicken tenders and experienced symptoms of salmonella poisoning, she told the Northern Advocate.

And one school student said it was not the first time raw meat has been served.

Bells Produce is under fire for supplying students at Kaitaia College with raw chicken in their lunches. Photo / Supplied

The Ministry of Education warned anyone who ate the chicken could fall ill with gastroenteritis within 10 days of eating it - causing vomiting and diarrhoea.

School works with authorities in investigation

Kaitaia College was working with health authorities and the local hospital to ensure the safety of students after they were served raw chicken tenders.

The Far North District Counci is investigating the incident with help from Bells Produce. The supplier will be stood down until the investigation was completed.

Maria Parsons, mother of student Ben Parsons, 14, said he vomited three times at school before she picked him up.

Parsons was “disappointed” in the school lunch provider.

“That’s basic health and safety guidelines,” she said, “and I know they’ve got a certified chef”.

Ānaru yesterday posted an urgent communication on the school’s Facebook page, stating she had contacted the relevant authorities.

“I am sorry to report some students may have eaten raw chicken in their lunches today,” Ānaru said.

“I immediately contacted the health authorities.”

The Ministry of Education’s leader of operations and integration Sean Teddy said the school contacted the ministry about the incident yesterday morning.

“As soon as the school principal was aware she acted immediately, collecting samples of the meals [to test and] contacted Kaitaia Hospital to ask to test any students with food poisoning symptoms,” Teddy said.

“[Ānaru] sent out communication to the parents of students who had eaten the meal which included appropriate medical advice if for any reason students become unwell.”

He said another supplier would take over lunch deliveries from today and added: “We have not been notified of any other incidents at this time”.

‘We’ve had raw meat served in the past’ - student

Year 12 student Lennox Goodhue-Wikitera revealed on TVNZ’s Breakfast programme that it had happened before.

“We’ve had raw meat served in the past. Just find a solution,” Goodhue-Wikitera said.

He said it was “horrific”.

“A lot of students started to feel sick. A lot of them had to go to the hospital. They also had to set up the hall as an area where students went if they were feeling symptoms of food poisoning and stuff.”

Despite what happened, Goodhue-Wikitera praised the school’s principal, Ānaru, who told parents straight away and helped students who were sick.

“Some teachers even - out of their own pockets - shouted kids lunch because we couldn’t eat lunch.”

Teachers bought pizza, hot chips and ice creams, he said.

Meanwhile, Bells Produce is investigating how the raw chicken came to be in the lunches.

The company took to social media to apologise to the school and children affected.

“All of the lunches were recalled as a safety measure once we [were] notified,” the company said.

“We understand this is a concerning issue and we will be investigating what may have caused this issue as well as working with the school and everyone required in this matter to work through it.”

$515.8m has been allocated to fund an extension of the provision of free school lunches to school children until the end of 2023.

The spending was made available through the Covid Relief and Recovery Fund rather than Budget 2021.

In a Cabinet paper, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins argued Covid funding was warranted because of increased privation amongst low-income New Zealanders.

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