Thousands of immigrants in the care of New York City are protesting the "bad" food provided to them and have thrown out more than 70,000 trays of food between October 22 and November 10. Mayor Eric Adams' office hired the company DocGo to serve asylum seekers three meals a day at a rate of $33 per person per day. This is especially controversial considering that Adams has made massive cuts to be able to afford this. According to reports, some $39,000 worth of food is being thrown out each day.
5,000 meals thrown away in a single day in New York City
The New York Times obtained the company's internal records, discovering that as many as 5,000 meals have been thrown away in a single day. According to the contract signed between Adams and the company - which had no previous experience in caring for migrants - the maximum price per meal was $11. The 70,000 meals thrown away in 20 days by the 4,000 asylum seekers in his care amounted to almost $776,000 for Big Apple taxpayers. If this continues, this will total more than a million dollars a month in wasted food.
In statements to the New York Times, the head of the city council's Supersession and Investigations Committee, Gala Brewer, described what happened as "offensive" for taxpayers. "It's very expensive for the taxpayer. We're asking for cuts while we're wasting food," she added.
Immigrants call out poor quality and even moldy food
Aside from the massive amounts of waste and its high cost, immigrants have complained about the quality of the food. According to the New York Times, "Some migrants have said they got sick after eating the meals. Others have reported quality issues, such as mold." Several journalists from The New York Post corroborated these claims. Several immigrants said that "without lying, the food is bad, bad" and that many try to cook what they can in their rooms - which is not allowed. They are not even allowed to heat up food or bring in food from off the premises. According to a group of immigrant mothers, the food they are served is not exactly healthy either.
The deal with DocGo sparked major controversy. Last March, Adams awarded a no-bid contract to the company worth $432 million. Theoretically, the company would receive that amount of money in exchange for arranging food, medical care and re-housing for the immigrants. Kathy Hochul announced last month that the state is opening an investigation into the matters after receiving allegations that the company mistreated asylum seekers in its care.
The company claimed that the New York Times article was not accurate, and pointed out - without presenting any evidence to confirm it - that according to its own information, 93% of the food is being consumed.
