Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says parents unhappy with provided school lunches should “make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in the bag”.
There have been a number of issues with the revamped lunch programme since it replaced a previous version at the start of the year.
“Here’s the deal; if you don’t like the lunches, just go make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in the bag,” Luxon said on Newstalk ZB.
“As a parent, I think parents should take responsibility for feeding their own kids, I’d rather the state didn’t have to do so. It should a parental responsibility, but the fact is that kids are coming to school with no lunch, I’m not willing to let them go hungry.”
The Prime Minister said that “there are some lunches that are not up to scratch, and some delivery that is not up to scratch”.
Today, it was revealed plastic packaging melted into the content of lunches provided to Murchison Area School had prompted an MPI investigation.
Luxon was confident Associate Education Minister David Seymour would get the problems with the programme sorted.
Seymour said he had made it clear to the School Lunch Collective the situation with melted plastic was unacceptable, and it was investigating how it happened.
“I expect the school to receive a full explanation and an assurance that this will not happen again,” he told RNZ.
