The Vegan Society was not surprised to learn of the recent failure of Compass Group to provide vegan food for the school lunches that were supposed to be vegan. This latest fiasco in the dire tale of school lunches provided by this company highlights the issues around the fact that the words vegan and vegetarian are not protected by current legislation.

The government committed to providing nutritious free school lunches to every child in need across the country and their ability to do so has fallen woefully short. The logistical nightmare of attempting to provide lunch to so many schools in the nation from a central point, was inevitably going to result in cold and late lunches throughout the islands. The fact that this company cannot even provide the correct food to those who do not eat meat is another huge failing that reflects badly upon the government and the company.

“It is the right of every child to be seen as individuals, with their own preferences, including what they would like to eat at school, where they do not have options.” said Media Spokesperson, Claire Insley, “If a meal is labelled as vegan, it should not contain any animal products. This is why we must enact legislation to ensure this kind of thing is not allowed to continue to happen. It’s not rocket science, it’s asking for clear and meaningful labelling, perhaps this would not have occurred if such legislation was in place.”

There seems to be a misunderstanding that vegan and vegetarian foods are more expensive than meat, which is simply not true, especially if meals are made nutritiously, from whole foods. Pulses and beans are still much cheaper than meat and even TVP is a cheap mince-like product that would have been ideal in this situation.

It is disappointing that our children are going hungry due to political greed and general lack of care and attention. From photos across all media in Aotearoa, it seems that these lunches would be barely served to dogs and pigs, let alone our school children and tamariki. Such meals are being thrown away as they look so unappetising, creating a food wastage problem too.

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