NYC migrant contractor tossing out thousands of uneaten taxpayer-funded meals a day: report
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%.
“The cost of all meals is passed through directly to the City without any markup, and the majority of the meals are procured through nonprofits, minority- and woman-owned caterers, and other small businesses.”
The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which oversees the DocGo contract, said the average-per-meal price had recently been lowered to $7.82.
Details of the wasted food emerged at a time when Mayor Adams is making controversial widespread budget cuts to all city agencies in a bid to cover the costs of the billion dollar migrant crisis plaguing the city.
“They’re the most expensive meals and if you are providing expensive meals, getting paid for them, either you’re not providing meals they want to eat or you’re overbuying,” Gale Brewer, the chair of the Council’s investigation committee told The Post.
“Something’s going on and the waste is outrageous,” the councilwoman, who has repeatedly called on the administration to scale back or cancel the DocGo contract, added.
“I’ve got all these non-profits that do human services being cut in the budget, I don’t understand how we have a ledger like that.”
Councilwoman Julie Won, too, ripped the food wastage and high costs.
“They’re spending $463 million on food during a fiscal crisis and they can’t account for how much of that is actually being consumed or how much of that food is rotten,” Won, who chairs the contracts committee, said.
“DocGo’s food waste is symptomatic of a larger systemic failure on the part of Mayoral Admin. The complete absence of oversight, accountability, quality assurance, and transparency in administering these food contracts is shocking and must be addressed immediately.”
Some migrants staying at the Roosevelt Hotel intake center told The Post they often throw out their meals because they claim it’s poor quality or cold.
“The food is bad. I don’t like it. How they prepare it, I don’t like it. When they bring it to you, it’s cold,” a 26-year-old from Venezuela said. “I prefer to buy my own food and prepare it myself.”
“The thing is it’s very cold, it’s not hot at all,” a migrant father from Ecuador added.
DocGo — contracted to provide housing, food, medical care and security for some migrants — has been embroiled in controversy since being awarded the $432 million contract by the city.
The offices of New York state Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul both launched probes into the medical services company amid a series of complaints that migrants were allegedly being misled or mistreated by the company while being bused upstate.
