A Case of Bad Food: How New York Wasted Taxpayers' Money

By: Bakhtawar Bhurgari

New York City is spending tens of thousands of dollars on meals for migrants that aren’t being eaten and are tossed into the trash daily. Five thousand were wasted in one day.

Mayor Eric Adams’ Administration awarded DocGo, a medical services company, a $432 million no-bid contract to provide migrant care, despite having had no prior experience. DocGo receives $33 per day to provide three meals for each of the 4000 asylum seekers in its care. Between October 22 and November 10, the company threw out 70,000 meals, marking them as ‘wasted’, according to internal records reviewed by The New York Times. 

The wasted food cost taxpayers $776,000, and at this rate, it will cost the city more than $1 million a month. Just when Mayor Eric Adams has decided to slash billions in city funding to address the migrant crisis, the negligence of DocGo will only infuriate taxpayers even more. “We’re asking for cuts while we are wasting food,” City Councilwoman Gale Brewer told The Times. 

Despite the internal records, a DocGo spokesperson called the data insight “not accurate” without further elaboration. “DocGo continually monitors food consumption and works to proactively identify opportunities for savings on behalf of NYC. Meal consumption currently sits at 93%.”, a DocGo spokesperson asserted in a statement without offering any evidence. 

Although some food waste might be unavoidable. Many migrants are unavailable when meals are served, especially in the daytime when they are out looking for work, while others have chosen to cook for themselves in their rooms. However, complaints suggest that the problem might be the food itself. Migrants have come forward saying that the food is making them sick, some have even reported the presence of mold. 

The company’s officials seem to be ignoring the influx of complaints. A DocGo supervisor wrote in her report that the migrants “dislike the food strongly” and “clients angry and claim that the food has mold and is making them sick.” Still, the supervisor marked the “Yes” box when answering if the migrants enjoyed the food. 

“There are just too many outstanding questions and concerns about DocGo,” Brad Lander, who is auditing the DocGo contract, said. “New Yorkers deserve real-time oversight and accountability to understand how this price tag [$432 million] was reached,” Lander added.  

The squandering of thousands of meals raises many questions, but it especially reflects an inefficient use of public funds at a time when budget cuts are already impacting essential services across New York City. The migrants may find new ways to cook their own food, but thousands in taxpayer money have gone down the drain, and it is not a good look for Mayor Adams’ Administration.