It is awful; I have anecdotal stories from friends and relations who say the schools now have to accept inferior foods. Previously the people employed to purchase for the schools took a lot of time and care to make good choices, ensuring those with allergies, religious or ethical needs were well met with nutritious and balanced meals. Now they get heat and eat slop.
If this is so great will it be served in Parliament? (thought not) Think of the taxpayer money we could save in there by getting Compass to provide morning and afternoon teas and lunches! I'm sure they would be proud visiting dignitaries could sample the quality of what our children will grow up with.
Utterly heartless COC setting up communities to fail - long term. They'll be long gone with their taxpayer funded superannuation and eternal perks when the outfall of this really hits.
I suspect that kids won't eat it, and a great deal will be wasted, until Seymour will be able to say " see, we did this, and kids wouldn't eat it, so we will stop". Not doing it, is his preferred option, so he's creating a scheme that is planned to fail.
What's really interesting is that he is associate minister of education - what experience does he have to opine on anything to do with students. He has no children. He is an arrogant p'*&^k who has no right to foist his views about education on the country.
I wouldn’t eat this s**t if you paid me. Great expose Bryan. It is hard not to get really emotional. What’s in those plastic containers - so-called school lunches - speaks volumes about Seymour. It literally screams at Luxon, Willis, Bishop and the National Party who have allowed this stingy little p***k to implement this crime against New Zealand’s children. I hope they get their health system disaster fixed because my god, these little tackers are going to need it. Imagine what this highly processed crap will do to their growing bodies. And at $3 per meal, subtract the Compass (we love profit ) margins and can you imagine how nasty the ingredients really are? Roll on 2026, and come on Kiwis, please, please, vote this lot out. 🙏
As Minister of Education, Seymour doesn't seem to understand Education in its widest sense at all. There's more to Education than the three Rs. To educate the whole person includes teaching about growing the whole person, mind and body. The kind of gunk that Seymour thinks school meals should be, and the "1 hour of reading, 1 hour of maths, 1 hour of writing" b.s. that stands for this government's education policy is so Dickensian it should have been laughed out of existence long ago. I get so angry at the poverty of thought behind this government's policy making. Think I'll go and have a lie-down.
Every single person who facilitated Seymour's election in Epsom and therefore Act's disproportionate voice needs to read this article, then think outside of the leafy suburbs to other communities and let DS that is not what they voted for. The so-called saving of $100m is just fool's gold, a drop in the proverbial budget bucket and utterly shortsighted and immensely costly long term to everyone. Worse still, at the same time, the funding of the foodbank backstop for food hunger has been grossly reduced. NZ can do better than this surely. Thanks for opening this on up Bryan and for the excellent investigative journalism.
I do teach in schools that provide healthy nutritional lunches. I see the joy that school lunches bring with variety and made locally with fresh produce and packaged in small washable containers or recycled paper wraps. I find it shocking that the CG approved of the current new menu. They look horrible. I hope David Seymour himself will be introducing them to Bellamys Restaurant and eating them five days a week.
Wow! Those images of the slop our kids will be served compared to what other countries who value their children's health are provided says it all. Seymour is a callous bean counter who can't see beyond $ saved.
I'm a former chef and now an Environmental Health Officer and worked in many LGAs. I've been to literally thousands of food premises and seen how the food is made and I'm always looking at the operation holistically to be able to assess food safety accurately. Schools I've inspected where food is made in-house nearly always make good decisions on the quality AND safety of the food. They engage locals who like to work in school kitchens (often they might have children at the school themselves) and work with the teachers and staff and kids to provide suitable choices. I like those places. Some have gardens that the kids grow veges and herbs in, and they use these in the meals. They are usually nice inspections. The ones where food is trucked in from elsewhere don't have the kitchen specialists team, and it's more of a transaction which can get a bit sloppy in the delivery, so food safety can be more of an issue. I've also assessed manufacturers too, and when you see long lines of people with blue gloves and hairnets on, doing their tiny bit in the chain of making big volumes of food, you realise the profits are made, not by the sale of the food, but by employing people on minimum wages. No one in this transaction has a vested interest in a particular school's students. Same goes for hospitals that outsource their food supplies, and aged care providers, etc. All about non-specialist staff and minimum wages producing food for the masses. Please note, I'm not picking holes in the staff at the manufacturers, they need jobs too. Just something is lost in the integrity of our communities with big manufacturers locking up opportunities and choices in the food production chain.
Personally I think Compass are offering $3.00 meals as a 'Loss Leader' to get their hooks into the Education Sector. When the existing structures are dismantled they will renegotiate a much higher price, but likely no improvement in type or quality of meals.
According to AI “Lips are a somatosensory organ with many sensory receptors that help judge the temperature and texture of food.” Well Seymour hasn’t got any. Hence the problem. It’s all down to the lack of lips.
It is awful; I have anecdotal stories from friends and relations who say the schools now have to accept inferior foods. Previously the people employed to purchase for the schools took a lot of time and care to make good choices, ensuring those with allergies, religious or ethical needs were well met with nutritious and balanced meals. Now they get heat and eat slop.
If this is so great will it be served in Parliament? (thought not) Think of the taxpayer money we could save in there by getting Compass to provide morning and afternoon teas and lunches! I'm sure they would be proud visiting dignitaries could sample the quality of what our children will grow up with.
Utterly heartless COC setting up communities to fail - long term. They'll be long gone with their taxpayer funded superannuation and eternal perks when the outfall of this really hits.
I suspect that kids won't eat it, and a great deal will be wasted, until Seymour will be able to say " see, we did this, and kids wouldn't eat it, so we will stop". Not doing it, is his preferred option, so he's creating a scheme that is planned to fail.
If these meals are as amazing as David Seymour says they are, why not dish them out at nationals next morning tea. See how well they go down there.
How we allow scum like Seymour to perpetrate woeful decisions like this make me bloody angry.
What's really interesting is that he is associate minister of education - what experience does he have to opine on anything to do with students. He has no children. He is an arrogant p'*&^k who has no right to foist his views about education on the country.
agree, also look at Nicola Willis exactly why is she qualified to be the finance minister ?
It will be interesting to see if the Epsom electorate survives the Electoral commissions thinking on the number of North Island seats.
Very good article - thank you Bryan
I wouldn’t eat this s**t if you paid me. Great expose Bryan. It is hard not to get really emotional. What’s in those plastic containers - so-called school lunches - speaks volumes about Seymour. It literally screams at Luxon, Willis, Bishop and the National Party who have allowed this stingy little p***k to implement this crime against New Zealand’s children. I hope they get their health system disaster fixed because my god, these little tackers are going to need it. Imagine what this highly processed crap will do to their growing bodies. And at $3 per meal, subtract the Compass (we love profit ) margins and can you imagine how nasty the ingredients really are? Roll on 2026, and come on Kiwis, please, please, vote this lot out. 🙏
As Minister of Education, Seymour doesn't seem to understand Education in its widest sense at all. There's more to Education than the three Rs. To educate the whole person includes teaching about growing the whole person, mind and body. The kind of gunk that Seymour thinks school meals should be, and the "1 hour of reading, 1 hour of maths, 1 hour of writing" b.s. that stands for this government's education policy is so Dickensian it should have been laughed out of existence long ago. I get so angry at the poverty of thought behind this government's policy making. Think I'll go and have a lie-down.
Every single person who facilitated Seymour's election in Epsom and therefore Act's disproportionate voice needs to read this article, then think outside of the leafy suburbs to other communities and let DS that is not what they voted for. The so-called saving of $100m is just fool's gold, a drop in the proverbial budget bucket and utterly shortsighted and immensely costly long term to everyone. Worse still, at the same time, the funding of the foodbank backstop for food hunger has been grossly reduced. NZ can do better than this surely. Thanks for opening this on up Bryan and for the excellent investigative journalism.
I completely agree with you Susan! Thank you Bryan!!
I do teach in schools that provide healthy nutritional lunches. I see the joy that school lunches bring with variety and made locally with fresh produce and packaged in small washable containers or recycled paper wraps. I find it shocking that the CG approved of the current new menu. They look horrible. I hope David Seymour himself will be introducing them to Bellamys Restaurant and eating them five days a week.
Wow! Those images of the slop our kids will be served compared to what other countries who value their children's health are provided says it all. Seymour is a callous bean counter who can't see beyond $ saved.
It’s really hard to count beans when they have been mouli-ed into muck
I'm a former chef and now an Environmental Health Officer and worked in many LGAs. I've been to literally thousands of food premises and seen how the food is made and I'm always looking at the operation holistically to be able to assess food safety accurately. Schools I've inspected where food is made in-house nearly always make good decisions on the quality AND safety of the food. They engage locals who like to work in school kitchens (often they might have children at the school themselves) and work with the teachers and staff and kids to provide suitable choices. I like those places. Some have gardens that the kids grow veges and herbs in, and they use these in the meals. They are usually nice inspections. The ones where food is trucked in from elsewhere don't have the kitchen specialists team, and it's more of a transaction which can get a bit sloppy in the delivery, so food safety can be more of an issue. I've also assessed manufacturers too, and when you see long lines of people with blue gloves and hairnets on, doing their tiny bit in the chain of making big volumes of food, you realise the profits are made, not by the sale of the food, but by employing people on minimum wages. No one in this transaction has a vested interest in a particular school's students. Same goes for hospitals that outsource their food supplies, and aged care providers, etc. All about non-specialist staff and minimum wages producing food for the masses. Please note, I'm not picking holes in the staff at the manufacturers, they need jobs too. Just something is lost in the integrity of our communities with big manufacturers locking up opportunities and choices in the food production chain.
Personally I think Compass are offering $3.00 meals as a 'Loss Leader' to get their hooks into the Education Sector. When the existing structures are dismantled they will renegotiate a much higher price, but likely no improvement in type or quality of meals.
Oh god how I cringe every time I hear anything about Seymour and his flawed ideologies or see his smug little face.
Not a fresh vegetable in sight. Replacing the current nutritious school lunches with this highly processed muck is akin to child abuse.
According to AI “Lips are a somatosensory organ with many sensory receptors that help judge the temperature and texture of food.” Well Seymour hasn’t got any. Hence the problem. It’s all down to the lack of lips.
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂no lips Seymour luv it 💗
I kind of apologise for my comment but I’m just so fed up with the stupidity of this government.
Well said!
spot on Bryan