One of the meals that was served up to students on Monday. Photo: Supplied / Haeata Community Campus
A Christchurch principal is disputing that the mouldy meals served to students yesterday had been left at the school from the previous week.
NZ Food Safety says it is more than likely that some lunches provided by Compass Group to Haeata Community Campus last Thursday remained at the school and were not refrigerated.
It says school staff then accidently re-served the food alongside fresh meals yesterday.
Principal Peggy Burrows says the school has no facility to heat lunches, and they would not serve cold meals.
The school, which covers from Year 1 to 13, said a teacher noticed the meals were off after they had been distributed to a number of children.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vince Arbuckle said NZFS had a team onsite at the school and Compass today investigating the affected meals.
"We have considered all possible causes.
"We think it is more than likely that the affected meals at the school had been delivered the previous Thursday, remained at the school without refrigeration, and then were accidentally re-served to students alongside fresh meals delivered on Monday. This would explain the deterioration of the meals."
But Burrows said the school did not heat up the lunches. They were delivered by Compass Group hot, and the school would not give out cold food.
"We're disappointed that the comment has been made and that it is in the media because it's absolutely untrue.
"We think it's disingenuous that they are trying to perhaps shift culpability because we don't have any. We don't have any facility for the heating of food. We rely completely on the Compass Group to deliver and then take the food that isn't eaten or given to whānau away."
In a statement, Paul Harbey - a spokesperson for the School Lunch Collective, which represents Compass Group - said one of the heated containers the meals are kept in was left behind at the school on Thursday.
"There were nine Cambro [food storage] boxes of the savoury mince and potatoes meal delivered to Haeata Community Campus on Thursday 27th November, however records show only eight were returned to us.
"One Cambro box has sat at ambient temperatures at the school since that date.
"Yesterday [on Monday] more than 73,000 lunches of the same recipe were served nationwide, with no concerns raised by any other school."
Harbey welcomed the food safety authority's comments.
"We appreciate the prompt and professional work undertaken by New Zealand Food Safety. Their visit to our Christchurch kitchen and to Haeata Community Campus has provided helpful clarity about what occurred. Their investigation indicates that the most likely cause of this incident was meals from last week being inadvertently distributed on Monday. While the investigation continues, this finding aligns with our internal checks and with what our teams observed on the day."
But Burrows said the school's security camera footage showed that all of the Cambro boxes taken into the school last Thursday were picked up by Compass later that day.
"When the MPI investigators came, they stood and watched our camera footage from Thursday.
"Between 9am and 9.15am, the Compass Group van arrives, and the Compass Group driver arrives with eight Cambros. He brings eight [Cambros] into the school cafeteria and leaves eight, and then between 1.45pm and 2.00pm, he arrives and takes eight away with him."
She said on Monday, nine Cambro boxes were delivered, and nine were taken away.
"The footage clearly shows him arriving into the cafe area pulling his trolley across the cafe, popping them onto the tables and then our staff putting them out on the tables.
"It's not like our staff picked up a cold Cambro that had contaminated food and and then handed that out to children. That defies logic.
"But even if one had been left behind, how could it have been heated?"
She said the school would be following up with NZ Food Safety about why they had come to the conclusion they had.
Earlier, Harvey said the events of the past 24 hours had been "upsetting" for many Compass workers.
"When inaccurate assumptions or conclusions are drawn publicly, it has a real impact on the people who do the mahi to provide nourishing meals to our tamarki who need them.
"Nothing is more important to us than food safety and meal quality. We welcome every opportunity to demonstrate the systems we follow - including temperature controls, visual checks, and strict handling procedures - for every meal delivered across New Zealand."
Associate Education Minister David Seymour said Compass had been smeared for something it more than likely had nothing to do with.
"We can never be absolutely certain but on the balance of probabilities it is the person who has vociferously and politically gone out in the media on this issue, attacking me, the government and Compass, the food provider, who is responsible."
Burrow said Seymour's comments were upsetting.
"I'm just a school teacher at a little school in the east advocating for one of our most vulnerable communities in the country. And for the minister to make it so personal, that is deeply disappointing.
"The school and the community have been hugely affected by this significant breach of food security.
"Such an event erodes trust and confidence for families/whānau and students/ākonga alike."
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