Tēnā koutou katoa
Happy New Year!
Last year, over 37 million lunches were served to over 240,000 students at 1,014 schools and kura across the country, helping students to learn and thrive at school.
This year, we look forward to making the programme even stronger through collaborative mahi together with you and our meal suppliers and partners throughout New Zealand.
During the year, our highly skilled Healthy School Lunches team will be working alongside you to help navigate any challenges that might arise. Together, we learned a lot, and we’ve implemented changes and processes to avoid stumbling over the same obstacles that we ran up against in early 2025. The lessons learned will inform our progress and improvements as we refine the programme into the future.
Over the next 2 weeks, schools across the country will have staggered starts to the term. By 9 February, I look forward to all schools in the programme being back from the summer holidays and locked into regular lunch scheduling.
Support your supplier or meal provider by updating ordering numbers and dietary requirements regularly and notifying them of any changes in your school schedule.
I am excited to get stuck into 2026 and working with you to make this a successful and healthy school year for all our students across the motu.
Nāku noa, nā
Andrew Gibson
Director – Strategic Programmes
Te Pae Aronui (Operations and Integration)
2026 menus#
Suppliers are required to share menus directly with schools and kura or publish them on their website.
Schools must share menus and meal ingredient information with their community to support transparency and student safety.
For contributing primary schools moving to the low-cost model in 2026, the lunches provided may be different from what students are used to. Students can still expect a variety of nutritious meals that meet the same standards and portion sizes as previous years, though additional food items may not be included with the lunch.
Food safety reminder#
Keep meals/foreign objects#
It is essential to remember that in the unlikely event of a food safety incident occurring at your school, remind students and staff of the importance of keeping the meal and any foreign object to help in the investigation.
- Call your Healthy School Lunches senior advisor and/or supplier immediately.
- Do not throw the meal away. Retain the meal and packaging.
- Clearly label ‘do not use’ and refrigerate to preserve the meal.
- If a foreign object has been found in the meal, retain it.
We will arrange for the meals and, if relevant, the foreign object to be picked up. The Ministry follows a robust process to investigate all food safety incidents and put corrective action in place. When necessary, New Zealand Food Safety (MPI) is involved and will lead the investigation.
In the event of a food safety incident, it is unhelpful to learn about the incident from secondhand sources or online. This can cause a delay in the investigation to put corrective action in place and undue concern for students and school communities.
If your Healthy School Lunches senior advisor is away, email us.
Email: [email protected]
Nutrition reminder#
Nutrition has always been a cornerstone of the Healthy School Lunches programme.
Keeping nutrition at the fore of the programme supports students’ growth, learning, and long-term wellbeing. Nutrition standards in our programme help to close the equity gap for students in the greatest need.
A development chef has joined Healthy School Lunches and new cost-efficient recipes are being developed to add to the existing menu library. We will let you know when the new recipes are available and provide a link to the website.
A special note of thanks to all the cooks and kitchen managers for working so hard to feed our students nutritious lunch all year long. One of our skilled senior advisor team will be reaching out to you in the new year.
Surplus meals and waste#
The most cost‑effective and sustainable way to reduce surplus and waste is for schools to order lunches only for students who are attending and need a meal. Redistributing surplus lunches outside the school day can create food-safety risks and prevents those funds from being redirected back into the programme.
General guidance:
- Lunches are for students in schools.
- If students want an extra helping, particularly if they are very active, that is great. Schools can provide a second lunch to students if there is surplus.
- Lunches need to be collected by meal providers so we can minimise surplus. They are not for distribution in the community.
Education website#
The Education website is our main source of information. Visit the Healthy School Lunches section.
External model update#
Distribution funding reminder#
Eligible external model schools and kura who received distribution funding late last year to support onsite lunch distribution will continue to receive funding in Term 1, 2026.
Funding is assessed on a case-by-case basis, considering factors such as supplier delivery method, style of food, school size, and location.
For Term 1, 2026, funding will be automatically paid through Pourato to eligible external model schools. From Term 2 onward, most schools will need to reapply for distribution funding for the remainder of the year. We will provide details about the application process well in advance of Term 2.
Information on maximum termly funding and eligibility is available here.
Funding for the Healthy School Lunches programme
Lunch distribution in schools#
A printable digital poster will be available to all external model schools and kura this term, outlining information to remember when distributing and serving lunches.
Schools and kura in the Healthy School Lunches programme are responsible for:
- keeping food safe when receiving and distributing lunches
- having waste and surplus meals ready for supplier pickup
- reporting any issues in a timely manner.
When distributing lunches, you need to know about:
Temperature
Hot food should stay hot, and cold food should stay cold. Keep them separated.
Follow any supplier instructions about lunch handling (for example, when to open delivery boxes).
Hygiene
Wash your hands thoroughly before handling lunches or cutlery.
Ensure your hair is tied back or covered and that nothing can fall onto or touch the meals and cutlery (for example hair, sleeves).
Cover any wounds with a coloured plaster or wear gloves.
Sickness
Do not handle lunches if you are ill.
Allergies *allergens can kill*
Keep special diets separated from regular meals.
Seek clarification if you think a dietary meal is incorrect.
Food safety
If something is wrong with a lunch, do this:
- Retain the lunch(es) and any foreign object(s). Refrigerate the lunch. Take photos.
- Immediately notify your healthy school lunches advisor. If they are not available email us.
Email: [email protected]
Weather events#
Following the recent extreme weather events around the country, we are reminding schools, suppliers, and iwi hapū partners to be in frequent communication with each other. If any suppliers are unable to deliver lunches due to unexpected weather conditions or resulting events, such as a road closure, they should be in contact with their schools in the first instance.
Keep lunch orders updated#
It is important for you to update your meal orders often to avoid unnecessary wastage and surplus.
If lunches are not required by your school on a specific day or you know your order will be different than usual. Let your supplier know. Plan and make the required changes to upcoming lunch order variation with your meal provider.
School Lunch Collective supplier update#
The School Lunch Collective (SLC) has made some updates to its ordering portal and website to help schools stay on top of ordering correct numbers of lunches for the new year. This includes:
- Password recovery: If you have forgotten your password to get onto the SLC ordering portal, you can now automatically reset your password from the ordering portal on the website.
- Reduced lead-time: The SLC has reduced its meal order portal lead-time to seven days to help you keep your order numbers as accurate as possible.
- Step-by-step video guide.
This video helps guide you through making meal changes, adding total standard meals, and include dietary meals with ease.
For meal ordering support, go here.
Ordering help – School Lunch Collective
For the Term 1 menu, go here.
Our food – School Lunch Collective
For any other questions, contact SLC from 9am-3pm Monday to Friday.
Phone: 0800 586 243
Email: [email protected]
Contributing primary school supplier update#
The 10 suppliers to contributing primary schools are ready to go and have their systems and reporting processes in place for the start of 2026 school year.
The process to order the number of meals and dietary requirements for your students should have been provided by your supplier along with the menu for both standard and dietary meals.
Weekly reporting to the Ministry is now required by all external suppliers and we ask you to support them with the collection of this information, such as the number of uneaten meals returned at the end of lunch service.
Suppliers have business continuity plans in place, in case of any major or minor interruptions to service during the school year.
If you have any questions about your 2026 supplier, contact your Healthy School Lunches senior advisor or email us.
Email: [email protected]
Internal model update#
Term 1 workshops#
Internal model online end of term financial reporting
This workshop is for schools and kura who are receiving their funding automatically. It outlines the online end of term financial reporting process. It also runs through an Excel Cashbook tool that provides a workbook to input your expenditure throughout the term and auto populates this expenditure onto an end of term reporting workbook, saving time.
Date: Tuesday 17 February 2026, from 3:30pm to 4:00pm
Gilmours online update session
This session will provide updates on the Gilmours website and cost-effective recipe development to support schools and kura provide nutritious, cost-effective lunches.
Date: Tuesday 24 February 2026, from 3:30pm to 4:00pm
Introductory Business Continuity Planning (BCP) workshop
This workshop covers the basics to develop a BCP that will outline potential disruptions to providing lunches, and options to manage them to ensure lunch continuity.
Date: Tuesday 17 March 2026, from 3:30pm to 4:00pm
Introductory waste management planning workshop
This workshop goes through the basics on waste management planning including developing a simple waste management plan and where to access resources.
Date: Tuesday 24 March 2026, from 3:30pm to 4:00pm
To attend any of the listed Term 1 workshops, email us (cc. your senior advisor) with your name and the name of your school or kura.
Email: [email protected]
A calendar appointment with a link to the Teams meeting will be sent to you.
Ikura reminder#
Make sure your free period products are stocked and pre-made packs are ready to distribute to your returning students. Have a communication process in place to let new students learn where and how to access menstrual products at your school.
If your school is not yet part of the Ikura programme, get in touch with your Healthy School Lunches senior advisor to discuss the benefits of joining.
All schools can access Ikura period products by emailing us.
Email: [email protected]
If your school is already with the Ikura programme, to order more period products for the new term, contact your OfficeMax representative.
Email: [email protected]
