Haeata Community Campus says it has launched its own “internal inquiry” after rejecting findings by New Zealand Food Safety on mouldy school lunches.

On Wednesday, New Zealand Food Safety issued its third statement, again saying the evidence pointed to a “human error at the school” as the most likely explanation.

New Zealand Food Safety is a unit of the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Haeata Community Campus principal Dr Peggy Burrows continued to say the problem lay with the provider, appearing on multiple media outlets before an official investigation was launched.

She also accused the outcome of the New Zealand Food Safety investigation of being “political expedient” and said CCTV footage proved the provider was in the wrong.

Burrows then invited a local reporter to view the CCTV footage, but later withdrew the offer citing privacy concerns, after sending media photos showing a child carrying the mouldy school lunches.

New Zealand Food Safety deputy director general Vincent Arbuckle said “The weight of evidence suggests that the contaminated food being distributed to students was a result of a human error at the school.

“We think it likely this occurred during the school’s distribution of the lunches.”

“The number of boxes going in and out of the school on any given day does not provide sufficient evidence that all of the leftover lunches are accounted for in this case.

“This is because the CCTV footage we reviewed does not tell us the contents of the boxes or whether they were the same boxes.”

Dr Peggy Burrows said she was “dismayed that such comments could be made by senior officials when the Food Safety Authority investigation is incomplete.”

Burrows said that, “contrary to claims by Paul Harbey, spokesperson for Compass Group, the school’s camera footage clearly shows all cambros were collected from the school on Thursday, 27 November 2025 and no food had been left behind to sit in the sun for three days.”

Burrows said that “one cambro containing rubbish, not meals, was left temporarily on site on Wednesday, 26 November but was properly collected the following day by the PFM property staff and was uplifted and returned to the the Compass Group distribution facility by the delivery driver the next day.

“Haeata’s records, supported by Property Staff (PFM) checks of the campus on Thursday, 27 November, confirm no cambros remained on site.”

Dr Burrows said “the school does not retain cambros; all are collected and returned to the Compass Group distribution facility at the end of each day.

“Claims that contaminated lunches were confined to a specific cambro are inaccurate. The cambros are barcoded and tracked and all meals are accounted for as there are strict food safety requirements for students with dietary needs.

“The contaminated meals were discovered dispersed across multiple cambros by Haeata staff. This is confirmed by the camera footage.

“Haeata Community Campus maintains robust systems at all times to ensure safe onsite distribution of school lunches, staff are meticulous in their handling and distribution of the lunches. The PFM Property staff adhere to strict requirements for site safety. None of these systems failed on Thursday, 27 November 2025 or Monday, 1 December 2025.

“The school does not accept responsibility for the operational failure of the supplier, the Compass Group, and disagrees with statements by both Mr Harbey and New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle regarding Haeata Community Campus staff being responsible for the reheating and distribution of contaminated food.

“Haeata Community Campus remains committed to student safety and transparency in all food service operations and will release the findings of its own internal investigation next week.”

The school did not say whether its internal investigation will be carried out by an external investigator.

Christchurch East MP Rueben Davidson said the situation remained deeply concerning.

“The last set of findings I’ve seen from Food Safety say that it’s highly likely. It doesn’t definitively state that the issue arose at the school. It says that it’s highly likely. So I think the bigger issue here is that it’s really unfortunate and unacceptable that rotten food is being served to children for their lunch.

“We had a really good, really effective healthy school lunch program through schools in New Zealand, focusing on the schools that needed it the most. From the day this new government came in, they’ve done everything they possibly can to undermine that.”

Davidson also pushed back at criticism of the principal by Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour.

“I think it’s really unfortunate when you see a principal who has probably spent their life dealing with school bullies, now having to deal with bullying from the Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Minister of Education.”

When challenged by chrislynchmedia.com on what he meant by “bullying,” Davidson said Seymour’s language crossed a line.

“Well, I think when you start derogatorily referring to someone as being a media frequent flyer, let’s look at some of the media coverage that we’ve seen for this principal in this school.

“It’s been around a 600% lift in achievements in NCEA. So I think that’s something that should be celebrated in any school, but particularly in a school in the electorate I’m lucky enough to represent of Christchurch East.

“So I think you have to be really careful when you start calling people out, especially when there is such a power differential between the Deputy Prime Minister and the principal of a school.”