8689 (2025). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Associate Minister of Education

8689 (2025). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Associate Minister of Education: How many, if any, school lunches were wasted during the week of February 24th 2025, expressed as an overall number?

Hon David Seymour: I am advised by the Ministry of Education that meals which are left uneaten by students are returned to the School Lunch Collective. If students are still hungry at lunchtime, schools are encouraged to provide students an additional meal where there is surplus. The School Lunch Collective is publishing daily information on national meal surplus, available at: https://www.schoollunchcollective.co.nz/our-impact To reduce the amount of food surplus, work is underway to make sure the ordering portal is up-to-date and includes the changes in school attendance each week. Meals that contribute to a high meal surplus will be removed from the menu. Hot meals that are surplus are not recommended to be distributed as there are food safety risks associated with reheating meals twice Based on the data provided from 24 to 28 February 2025, around 9% of meals were uneaten and returned to the School Lunch Collective production kitchens across the country.