More than a year after the Government shifted to a $3-per-meal school lunch model, some Northland schools say the programme is failing the very students it was designed to help.
The Ministry of Education says only five of Northland’s 117 participating schools complained during the first two terms of 2026. However, some schools say food quality, nutrition and uneaten meals remain an issue, with Taipa Area School reporting some students choose to go hungry rather than eat the lunches provided.
The ministry announced the model in 2024, launching a school meal programme that costs about $3 per meal.
A recent Auditor-General report on the lunch programme found that half the lunches did not meet nutritional standards and ministers were warned the programme might fail.
Taipa Area School principal Lisa White said the situation had unfortunately not improved in the past year, with the quality of meals still inconsistent and often unacceptable.
Recent examples, she said, included mince containing offal with visible tubes and gristle, pasta dishes served with a single spoonful of sauce, and raw chicken delivered on more than one occasion.
The school sends lunches back because students would rather go hungry than eat them, White said, adding that repeated issues had caused students to lose trust in the programme.
“While some meals meet technical nutritional guidelines, a meal that is not eaten provides zero nutritional value.
“A number of students are hungry throughout the day, which directly affects engagement, behaviour, attendance and achievement.”
White said the school was concerned its performance could be judged unfairly during an upcoming Education Review Office assessment while students were being negatively affected by the lunch programme.
White said although the programme eases financial pressure for some families, the benefit is lost when students refuse to eat the food provided.
“A free lunch only helps if it is edible, appealing and nutritious.”
White said the school had tried to resolve the issue and had been seeking approval since last year to move to an in-house lunch model.
The school was not after extra funding as part of this request.
“We are asking for the flexibility to use the existing funding to feed our students food they will actually eat – prepared by our own experienced canteen staff, who already provide nutritious, appealing options such as filled rolls, soups, sandwiches and other simple, fresh meals," White said.
“The contracted lunch programme is not achieving this for our school.”
Whangārei Intermediate School business manager Lisa Barber said efforts to improve the menu had been made but many meals were still being left uneaten.
She said her school was sending back about 100 meals a day.
Barber said the meals were often repetitive and bland.
“In a week, you might have mince, then mince again, then mince again, followed by a chicken meal and then more mince.
“A lot of the pasta and vegetarian options are very bland – just grey-looking food.”
Barber saw the recent Auditor-General report and said she agreed with its findings.
“It was exactly what schools have been saying for some time.”
Barber didn’t think the programme would get much better.
“Not if they continue with the types of meals that are being provided.”
She said the school’s previous suppliers under the former scheme offered greater variety and the meals were generally better received by students.
“But they are not going to be able to get that at $3 a meal.”
The ministry said significant improvements had been made to the school lunch programme since the period examined by the Auditor-General.
“In Term 2 this year, 68% of meals tested met nutrition requirements, an improvement on the figure in the Audit Office report,” group general manager of national services and programmes Andrea Williams said.
She said the ministry reviews menus before each term, regularly checks meals against nutrition standards, gathers feedback from schools and works with providers to test new menu items with students.
Williams said suppliers regularly assess the nutritional content of meals and had suggested improvements to the ministry’s testing methods, prompting a review of the approach.
She reported a small number of schools regularly had high numbers of unopened lunches and the ministry was working with them to better match orders to demand.
“By the end of Term 2, 2026, an average of 15% of surplus supplied by external suppliers were returned. Our goal is to reduce the surplus to 10% or less.”
Yolisa Tswanya is deputy news director at The Northland Age. An experienced journalist and newsroom leader, reports on a broad range of issues across the Far North and Northland, with particular interest in health, education and community affairs.