A controversial contractor being paid millions by the Big Apple to handle migrant services is tossing away tens of thousands of uneaten meals prepared for migrants — including 5,000 on a single day, company records show.
DocGo, which was awarded a hefty $432 million no-bid contract by Mayor Adams’ administration to help relocate some migrants upstate, receives up to $33 per day to provide three meals for each of the 4,000 asylum seekers in its care, the New York Times reported.
A significant number of those meals, however, are being trashed — with more than 70,000 being “wasted” between October 22 and November 22, according to the internal records obtained by the outlet.
More than 5,000 meals for asylum seekers were thrown out on November 6 alone, the records show.
DocGo — the COVID testing-turned-migrant-shelter firm — charges the city $11 per meal, which is the maximum allowed under its contract.
Based on that figure, the cost of the discarded food over that 20-day stretch would have set taxpayers back roughly $776,000 — or $39,000 a day.
According to a recent log from a migrant hotel in Western New York, “24 Chicken Alfredo & 24 Spaghetti Chicken Dinner” were wasted one night. Another shift report from Brooklyn Vybe Hotel showed 184 lunch meals were thrown out on Oct. 31.
And 110 dinners were tossed on Nov. 12 at the Holiday Inn in Albany, the records show.
Despite the internal logs, a DocGo spokesperson said, without elaborating, that the data cited by the NYT was “not accurate” and that meal consumption for migrants is currently at 93%.
“DocGo has continued to deliver on its contractual obligations and has ordered no more than 3 meals daily for each asylum seeker,” the spokesperson said in a statement obtained by The Post.
“DocGo continually monitors food consumption and works to proactively identify opportunities for savings on behalf of NYC. Meal consumption currently sits at 93%. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Cindy Schultz for The New York Times |
DocGo, entitled to receive up to $11 for each meal, throws away thousands of uneaten meals each day, according to internal company records.
New York City is paying tens of thousands of dollars a month for meals that are supposed to go to feed migrants but instead are never eaten and are thrown away, according to internal company records reviewed by The New York Times.
The meals are provided by DocGo, a medical services company that won a no-bid, $432 million contract from the city to provide broad migrant care, despite having had no experience in doing so.
DocGo receives up to $33 a day per migrant for providing three meals a day for each of the roughly 4,000 migrants in its care. From Oct. 22 to Nov. 10, more than 70,000 meals were recorded by DocGo as being “wasted,” according to internal company records obtained by The Times.
At $11 a meal, the maximum rate allowed by the contract, the wasted food for that 20-day period would cost taxpayers about $776,000, or about $39,000 a day. At that rate, the bill for the tossed food would exceed $1 million a month — just as Mayor Eric Adams is making billions of dollars in budget cuts to help pay for the city’s spending on migrant care.
The food waste is the latest issue to emerge related to DocGo’s care of migrants. This summer, the state attorney general began investigating the company over accusations it had mistreated migrants, among other issues.
A spokesman for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which oversees the $432 million DocGo contract, said the company recently began ordering fewer meals to reduce waste as part of the agency’s effort to trim $66 million from the program by the end of next year.
City officials say DocGo has lowered its average per-meal price to $7.82. At the rate of wasted meals reflected in DocGo documents, that would work out to about $28,000 in wasted food each day, or about $800,000 a month. --->READ MORE HERE
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