OIA25-0189
16 April 2025
Ali Ahmed
[FYI request #30427 email]
Dear Ali,
Thank you for your email of 15 March 2025 requesting information relating to school lunches
– details regarding MPIs precautions and biosecurity threats. Your request has been
considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
You requested the following:
According to recent reporting, the so-called ‘School Lunch Collective’ that David
Seymour has contracted to supply students in a deprived socio-economic condition
with ’meals’ fil ed with flies and other vermin, is now importing those ‘meals’ from
Australia. While the insects supplied to students by Seymour’s collaborators have so
far been native, or invasive species already common in NZ, there are many species
of pests common in Australia like the Queensland fruit fly and the various species of
Carpophilus
beetle that could potentially cause severe damage to our ecosystem
and agricultural industry if introduced here.
As such, what precautions are being taken by MPI to ensure that the insects in the
‘meals’ imported by Seymour’s contractors at the ‘School Lunch
Collective’/Compass from Australia are not from invasive species that have not yet
been introduced to New Zealand, and that where they are they are at least dead?
Specifically, what requirements should be applied about inspection of ‘meals’ to
assess which pests are present, and their refrigeration, and are they being enforced
by MPI personnel, or is this being left up to Compass and their subcontractors, who
have a documented record of not complying with law and contract conditions?
A member of the public made a report to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) about flies
coming out of a school meal, however the complainant and the school have not provided any
further details to New Zealand Food Safety, the business unit within MPI responsible for food
complaints, on this matter. MPI have no evidence these products contain any introduced
pests or diseases.
MPI protects New Zealand consumers by setting the minimum regulatory requirements for
the safety of food entering New Zealand as well as the biosecurity requirements to protect
against pests and diseases. Food importers must be registered with MPI, and they must
ensure the safety and suitability of food for sale before it is imported and that the food
remains safe and suitable during transport and storage.
Biosecurity is crucially important to New Zealand. As an isolated country, we are free from
many pests and diseases. We have a unique biodiversity that is threatened by invasive
New Zealand Food Safety
Food Risk Management
Charles Fergusson Building, 38–42 Bowen Street
PO Box 2526
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
foodsafety.govt.nz
species, and much of our wealth relies on trade and the primary sector, which can be
severely impacted by introduced pests and diseases.
New Zealand’s biosecurity system has three interlocking layers of protection that act like a
series of protective nets. Scientific expertise and analysis underpin each layer, and together
they protect New Zealand from pests and diseases. The layers and how they pertain to your
request include:
•
Pre-border
Import health standards set the biosecurity requirements for goods (including foods such as
fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy) coming into New Zealand to protect against exotic pests
and diseases that may be associated with these goods. For example, ready to eat meals
from Australia can be imported under the import health standard
Heat and Eat Meals
Containing Animal Products from Australia, https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/1817-
Heat-and-eat-meals-containing-animal-products-from-Australia-2001-Import-Health-
Standard. The import conditions must be met before goods enter New Zealand which
ensure biosecurity risks are managed. We review import health standards regularly and
may undertake periodic audits of an exporting country’s systems to ensure New Zealand
import requirements are being met.
•
At New Zealand's border
Documentation checks are carried out at the border for items identified as biosecurity
risk good. Consignments may also be subject to inspection, treatment, sampling or
testing.
•
Post-border (within New Zealand)
MPI is watching and doing surveillance work for new pest or diseases and preparing
to handle an outbreak. More information on the latest responses after two male
Oriental fruit flies were identified in two separate areas of Auckland can be found on
MPI’s website:
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/pest-and-disease-threats-to-new-
zealand/horticultural-pest-and-disease-threats-to-new-zealand/oriental-fruit-fly/
Food distributed as part of the school lunches programme must be compliant with New
Zealand’s food safety rules set out in the Food Act 2014, which is published online:
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2014/0032/75.0/DLM2995811.html. To do this,
businesses must identify food safety risks and have a plan to manage them (risk-based
measure). These plans are independently verified and will include appropriate measures to
ensure any food safety hazards (e.g. foreign objects or harmful organisms), including pests,
are not present in the food.
Should you have any concerns with this response, I would encourage you to raise these with
the Ministry for Primary Industries at
[email address]. Alternatively, you
are advised of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143 or at
[email address]. Yours sincerely,
Jenny Bishop
Director, Food Risk Management
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