Labour leader Chris Hipkins is visiting an Auckland school on Friday morning that has raised concern about the lack of ‘halal-certified’ free lunches for children.

He is also due to hold a media stand-up at 11am outside Papatoetoe Intermediate School in south Auckland, which issued the warnings earlier this month.

Halal, an Arabic word for ‘permitted’, refers to practices permitted under Islam. There are particular Halal dietary standards and practices for preparing food, such as a prohibition on the eating of pork.

Compass, the organisation responsible for providing lunches to schools as part of the Government programme, said the meals were ‘halal-friendly’.

This meant the meals had halal-certified beef and chicken and did not contain pork. It also had strict cleaning procedures. However, as its production facility was not halal-certified, it instead used the “halal-friendly” label.

Act leader David Seymour has defended the programme. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

Labour at the time said students had been “misled” about the meals.

“Claiming a meal is religiously permissible for groups of students when it isn’t breaks a trust we have fought long and hard to establish with communities who have long called Aotearoa home,” ethnic communities spokeswoman Jenny Salesa said.

But David Seymour, the associate education minister in charge of the programme, said to go fully halal-certified “would require the massive expense of separate preparation facilities, packaging and distribution processes”.

“I don’t believe that expense would be justified.”

Stuff reported that despite Papatoetoe Intermediate raising concerns about the lack of ‘halal-certified’ meals, it was later given meals with ham that had to be returned. Providers later apologised for the error and “halal-friendly” meals were delivered.

In 2020, the Labour Government began funding free school lunches in schools, with an initial pilot programme expanded over time.

After taking office in 2023, the current Government made changes to the programme that resulted in $130 million in annual cost savings. Seymour said every student who had received lunches would continue to do so and the lunches would be “nutritious”.

But principals complained about the quality of the meals, some of which turned up late to schools.