Legal problems have plagued the city’s massive school food system, but haven’t derailed a decades-long local campaign to use New York City cafeterias to fight hunger, improve nutrition, reduce social inequality, and support learning.
Local Origins, National Support
The notion of providing meals in schools dates back to mid-19th century Europe. In New York City, school food began in 1853, when the Children’s Aid Society launched an industrial school and offered meals as a way to entice low-income students to enroll. Broader efforts took root elsewhere in the Northeast: private philanthropists and public officials in Boston, for instance, developed a system for providing food to multiple schools around the turn of the 20th century.
Serving Up Scandals
In 1992, 42 kids got sick from tainted spaghetti at Public School 306 in Brooklyn. Three years later, the school system’s special commissioner for investigation found that "large amounts of donated food stored well past recommended shelf lives were being served to children in school cafeterias," with some turkey still in warehouses a year after it was supposed to be thrown out, and 28 out of 55 samples of school food found to be rancid.
**Federal prosecutors indicted 30 people and 14 companies in 2000 for rigging bids covering $210 million in school food between 1996 and 1999. "The conspirators held secret meetings where they agreed to carve up future bids to supply and deliver frozen food to the schools," according to a Department of Justice statement. "The conspirators agreed on the geographic zones that each participating company would win and lose, and also agreed on the prices or price levels they would bid." At least 13 people went to federal prison for the scam, and courts ordered $30 million in fines and restitution.
The System is Massive
The system is massive and intricate, involving the purchase, shipping, storage, preparation, and serving of hundreds of different food items by 1,700 unionized employees in nearly 1,500 schools. They operate under nutrition standards that exceed those set by the federal government, and provide meals to arguably the most diverse student body anywhere in the world during the jam-packed modern school day.
The Angelo Rolls In
In 2004, a consulting company advised the administration to streamline the way food was transported to schools, cutting the list of delivery firms from a dozen to just three. While the move promised efficiency on paper, in practice it was a disaster during the 2004-2005 school year, leading to delivery delays, food shortages, and steep fines against the delivery firms.
Goldstein’s Conviction
In 2022, a federal judge sentenced a former New York City school food official to two years in prison for taking bribes from a contractor—an arrangement that resulted in kids eating tainted chicken, a school staffer choking on a bone, and another chapter in the complex history of school nutrition in the five boroughs.
A Brighter Future
Advocates for reducing hunger take a longer view of school food than the current scandal, and a broader one than the periodic episodes of mismanagement that have dogged the program for more than three decades. In a city where one in four children experiences food insecurity, and where the child poverty rate is double the national average, school food is an indispensable tool for chipping away at a cluster of problems: hunger, inequality, obesity, and the ways those issues can impair a child’s ability to learn.
Conclusion
The story of school food in New York City is a long and complex one, marked by successes and setbacks. While there is still much work to be done to ensure that all children have access to healthy, nutritious meals, there is also a sense of hope and optimism. With the right approach, school food can be a powerful tool for addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty, and for creating a more just and equitable society.
FAQs
Q: What is the school food program in New York City?
A: The New York City school food program is a massive system that provides meals to over a million students in nearly 1,500 schools.
Q: What are the goals of the school food program?
A: The goals of the school food program are to provide healthy, nutritious meals to students, to reduce hunger and food insecurity, and to support learning and academic achievement.
Q: How does the school food program work?
A: The school food program works by purchasing food from vendors, transporting it to schools, and preparing and serving it to students. The program is managed by the New York City Department of Education.
Q: What are some of the challenges facing the school food program?
A: Some of the challenges facing the school food program include ensuring that all students have access to healthy, nutritious meals, managing the complexity of the program, and dealing with budget constraints.
Q: What is being done to address these challenges?
A: The city is working to address these challenges by providing additional funding for the school food program, streamlining the process, and working with schools to ensure that students have access to healthy, nutritious meals.
