'We end up giving them to our dogs' — Flood of complaints about quality of hot school meals

Correspondence from parents seen by the 'Irish Examiner' lays out a litany of complaints from 'out of date meals' to 'incorrect allergen information'

A parent who complained about allergen information in school mails said a label on 'vegan sweet and sour with rice' noted that it contained eggs and 'may contain bone or bone fragments'. File picture

Parents have told the Department of Social Protection that they are feeding their children’s hot school meals to their dogs amid a raft of furious complaints about the quality of the food.

Correspondence from parents, sent to the department and obtained by the Irish Examiner, shows concerns about out-of-date food, highly calorific meals, and a child "put at risk” due to allergen mis-labelling.

The hot school meals programme provides meals to primary school children across the country, with a range of providers producing the meals.

Last month, social protection minister Dara Calleary contended that a review of 400 schools by a dietitian found that at least a third of hot school meals do not meet basic nutrition standards.

Files released to this newspaper show that parents have complained about a range of different problems with the programme over the last year.

'Out of date' meals 

In February 2025, one parent denounced that out-of-date meals had been provided.

The Department of Social Protection confirmed that the principal had “reported the matter to the Environmental Health Office”.

In September 2025, one parent made a complaint to the hot schools meals programme, addressed directly to Mr Calleary, saying the quality of the food was “absolutely atrocious”.

“My children do not eat them and,  since returning to school in September, they have been sending the meals home uneaten every day,” they said.

On many occasions, we have ended up giving the meals to our dogs. 

"We have now had to cancel them entirely.” 

'Incorrect allergen information'  

Another parent made a complaint to the Hot School Meals division in April 2025, saying their son received food containing milk products three times due to incorrect allergen information on their menu. 

This was despite the company being informed several times that he had a dairy allergy.

The parent said they contacted the hot school meal provider, explaining the allergy and highlighting that the menu had not listed milk as an ingredient. 

Despite being told it would be examined, it happened again twice.

“I told them it was incompetence at this stage to knowingly put a child at risk by providing a third meal with added milk without identifying it on the menu after two detailed emails,” the parent continued.

'Vegan rice contains eggs and may contain bone'

Another parent who complained about the allergen information in November, saying the label of a “vegan sweet and sour with rice” noted that it contained eggs and “may contain bone or bone fragments”.

They also noted that the meal contained 870 calories, 26.8g of sugar, and 4.64g of salt.

The hot school meal provider told the parent that the meal was a vegetarian meal and not a vegan meal. They also noted it contained noodles, which contain more calories, rather than rice.

They also argued that children under 12 need between 1,400 and 2,000 calories a day.

Another parent complained to the department in August about sandwiches being removed from the menu and replaced with “basically rice or pasta”.

“Are you trying to give children heavy, bloated, gluten-intolerant tummies?” the parent asked.

• Louise Burne. Political Correspondent