“When the Mouldy Mince Hit the Fan” - 12 December 2025

On 1 December 2025, students at Haeata Community Campus in Christchurch opened their government-funded school lunches to find mouldy mincemeat covered in thick white and green contamination. Some children had already eaten the rotten meals before a teacher intervened. What happened next reveals the neoliberal playbook in action: blame the victim, protect the contractor, attack transparency, and never accept accountability.

Mouldy school lunches is all this government is good for

Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s response was not concern for the tamariki who ate contaminated food. Instead, he attacked Principal Peggy Burrows, labelling her a “media frequent flyer” and claiming she had caused “a major drama” by speaking to the media before waiting for investigation findings. Seymour told RNZ: “I just wish this hadn’t been necessary. If everyone had just kept a cool head and no-one had run off to the media”.

This was not a call for child safety. This was a demand for silence.

The Scapegoating of Peggy Burrows

Burrows—an educator at one of Christchurch’s most vulnerable communities—responded with dignity:

“I am an educationist, not a politician. I am here to advocate for this community”. She told media she was “hurt” by Seymour’s attacks, adding: “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”.

School burdens of stupid policies

New Zealand Food Safety concluded the most plausible explanation was that meals from the previous week were “accidentally mixed in” with fresh meals, clearing Compass Group of wrongdoing. Yet Burrows disputed this finding, citing CCTV footage showing all Cambro containers delivered on Thursday 27 November were collected that same day.

She stated:

“Between 9am and 9.15am, the Compass Group van arrives... brings eight into the school cafeteria and leaves eight, and then between 1.45pm and 2.00pm, he arrives and takes eight away with him”.

Food Safety dismissed this evidence, stating CCTV footage “does not show the contents of the boxes”. They noted the school did not track the number or contents of Cambro containers onsite—a convenient gap that allowed blame to fall on the school rather than the multinational contractor.

This is gaslighting as policy.

Cui Bono? Follow the Money to Compass Group

Who benefits when accountability is suppressed? Compass Group—the British-headquartered multinational catering giant whose New Zealand contracts with the public sector total more than $210 million this year. The company’s total New Zealand revenue was $296.5 million in 2024, meaning government represents approximately 70% of its business here.

Compass Group contracts and financial statements

The school lunch contract alone is worth approximately $71 million publicly, though BusinessDesk revealed Compass negotiated a separate secret bonus contract worth $8.9 million after the headline “$3 per meal” figure was announced. Compass charged 84 cents extra for 43% of school lunches provided, undermining Seymour’s claims of cost savings.

The global Compass Group parent company is staggeringly profitable. Its 2024 annual report showed underlying operating profit growth of double digits. In 2024, Compass Group NZ paid a $53 million dividend to its UK parent company—money extracted from public contracts meant to feed vulnerable children.

Compass has a documented history of performance failures under the school lunch programme, having been placed under performance management by the Ministry of Education at various times since 2021. Yet the Coalition government not only maintained but expanded their contract.

The “$3 Triumph” That Costs More and Delivers Less

Seymour claims his revamped programme is “almost half the cost of Labour’s programme”. Let’s verify these claims against actual data.

Labour’s Programme Cost and Waste:

Under Labour’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, the annual cost was $323 million for approximately 236,000 students. Research published in Health Promotion International found Labour’s programme achieved food waste below 6%. A Value for Investment study published in BMC Public Health rated Ka Ora, Ka Ako highly, with seven criteria rated excellent, 12 as good.

Seymour’s Programme Cost and Waste:

Seymour’s programme received $478 million in Budget 2024 for two years. But waste rates have exploded. A TVNZ survey of approximately 100 schools found that more than 80% reported too much waste under the new programme. One principal reported “producing five times as much waste as last year”.

University of Auckland researchers found that School Lunch Collective meals provide approximately half the energy children require. A Ministry of Education nutritionist who visited schools raised “a litany of issues” including massive wastage, concerning meal quality, and safety concerns.

The Neoliberal Playbook: Privatization, Profit Extraction, Public Blame

This scandal exemplifies neoliberal governance in action:

1. Privatize public services to multinational corporations
   Seymour’s programme centralised provision under Compass Group, eliminating 156 external suppliers including local caterers. This destroyed thousands of local jobs.
2. Extract profit to offshore parent companies
   The $53 million dividend Compass NZ paid to its UK parent in 2024 represents wealth extraction from Aotearoa. This is colonialism through corporate structure.
3. Eliminate transparency and accountability
   Seymour himself advocates for privatization openly, stating in January 2025: “Government is hopeless at owning things”.

Māori Disproportionately Harmed

This is not racially neutral. Haeata Community Campus serves one of Christchurch’s most vulnerable communities. The Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme was reaching over 236,000 students—predominantly in low-decile schools serving Māori and Pasifika whānau.

Research commissioned by the Office of the Auditor-General on Māori perspectives on public accountability found that Māori have low levels of trust in the public sector, with participants stating “the public sector is failing them”.

When a Pākehā minister attacks a school principal for advocating for vulnerable Māori tamariki eating mouldy food, he reinforces this distrust. It is structural violence disguised as fiscal responsibility.

Rangatiratanga Response

We must demand immediate action:

1. Terminate the Compass contract for breach of public trust.
2. Investigate Seymour’s conduct for attacking a school principal rather than addressing child safety.
3. Restore nutrition expert positions at the Ministry of Education, after eight experts and six advisers were cut.

Peggy Burrows had the courage to speak. The question is whether the rest of us have the courage to demand change.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right

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