In recent efforts to help migrants in the city, New York is allocating tens of thousands of dollars a month for meals that are meant for these populations. However, according to internal company records reviewed at The New York Times, considerable numbers of these meals are being thrown away before they could actually reach the migrants.
These meal packages are being supplied by a medical service called DocGo, a company whose proposed mission is to provide support for migrants. DocGo, an organization with no prior experience in humanitarian relief, acquired the resources to do this after they won a no-bid, $432 million contract from the city to establish a line of migrant aid.
According to The Times’ internal company records, DocGo gets up to $33 a day for each migrant out of a total of 4,000 in their care, to provide them with three meals a day. Yet in the company’s records, 70,000 meals were reported as being “wasted” from the interval of Oct. 22- Nov. 10.
If the rate for each meal is approximately $11, the sum of wasted food for the recorded interval would translate to costing taxpayers about $776,000, or $39,000 a day. If these numbers were to continue, this would mean the bill for the unused food would be $1 million per month.
The issue of food being wasted is one of the most recent to arise for DocGo’s conduct in terms of migrant care, as this past summer they were investigated by the state attorney general following accusations they had mistreated migrants—in addition to the presence of other conflicts such as sexual assault.
One of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s spokespeople claimed the company has begun to order fewer meals to accumulate less waste, as a means of cutting off $66 million from the program by the end of the following year.
Although on the migrant’s side of the issue, the main problem seems to pertain to the quality of the food rather than the quantity, as some have reported that they have gotten sick from the meals or have spotted mold on them.
Company officials at DocGo have been aware of these complaints for some time, but there seems to be minimal effort being taken to change the alleged issues, and few outcomes from these efforts, as records show that as recently as on Nov.6, 5,000 meals were lost in a single day.
