Recently in Food Services Category

Source: New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo news release, July 21, 2010

 

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced today a $20 million settlement with food services provider Sodexo for overcharging 21 New York school districts as well as the SUNY system.

An Attorney General investigation found that the company promised to provide goods at cost but failed to acknowledge rebates from suppliers, resulting in illegal overcharges to the schools. The investigation was sparked by former employees of Sodexo under the New York False Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to come forward to disclose wrongdoing without fear of retribution. The settlement was unsealed in Federal Court in Massachusetts and is the largest monetary settlement under the Act that does not involve Medicaid funds.

Source: BY CHRISTINA HALL, FREE PRESS (MI), June 22, 2010

... Like Livonia's lockup, jails around Michigan are trying to save money on the cost of prisoner food, with many replacing restaurant fare with simpler meals to save money and manpower. In May, Wayne County privatized its jail food program in an effort to save $2.5 million a year. The Michigan Department of Corrections is conducting pilot programs in some prisons to cut costs, with some sites showing 30% savings. The programs may go statewide Oct. 1.

..... The Kitchen Inc. in Madison Heights makes weekly deliveries to the Ferndale lockup of freshly prepared meals that can be frozen and heated in the microwave.

 Source: wtvq.com (KY)  01/21/2010

One Kentucky State Representative has introduced a bill to improve the quality and quantity of the food at all of the state's prison, but critics say it's costly and unnecessary. This was the scene last August when inmates rioted at Northpoint Prison near Danville. State Rep. Brent Yonts believes one of the main causes for this uprising was food.

Right now, a private company, Aramark, provides the inmates meals, so he is proposing a bill that would put the state back in control.

Source:  By Jeffrey Anderson THE WASHINGTON TIMES, January 26, 2010

A company that serves meals to 2½ million schoolchildren daily in more than 500 districts nationwide, with multimillion-dollar contracts in both Washington and Chicago, has a history of marginal quality and food-safety scares amid concerns over the nutritional content of its school menus, according to school and company records.

Chartwells-Thompson School Dining Services, a subsidiary of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Compass Group, owner of Burger King, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is one of North America's largest school cafeteria operators -- its contracts with the Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2009 totaling more than $289 million and a D.C. operation that could net the firm as much as $140 million from 2008 to 2013.

Source: By Stephenie Steitzer, The Courier-Journal (KY), November 6, 2009

 

A Northpoint Training Center corrections officer testified Friday that inmates rioted at the prison in August because they weren't being fed enough and the food they did receive was of poor quality.

... The department has said it is satisfied with the quality of food provided to inmates by Aramark Services, a private food service company in Pennsylvania.

..... Hughes was among about 25 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees who appeared at Friday's hearing. AFSCME officials are pushing the state to improve safety measures for corrections officers. Hughes and Yonts testified that food portions are often small and that about 20 percent of the inmates can't afford to buy food from the inmate canteen to supplement what they get in the cafeteria.

Source: Mona Sonnenshein and Carol Sherman, Modern Healthcare, April 20, 2009 - 5:59 am EDT

 

In October 2006, the chief operating officer for the University of California at San Diego Medical Center wanted to evaluate the medical center's outsourced food and nutrition services for both quality and financial improvements. A consultant, who had worked successfully with this senior administrator before, was hired to evaluate the facility's current operation, including the ability of the department to meet current and future needs of the medical center and assess the possibilities for cost containment and service modification through changes in the department.

..... Through the transition to in-house management, approximately $1.6 million was saved from the annual operating budget, and services were improved after a seamless transition.

Source:By Jennifer Myers, Lowell Sun (MA), 04/18/2009

 

Parents dropping their kids off at the Morey Elementary School yesterday morning were warned that after April vacation the students will be eating "re-heated frozen food... rather than fresh food cooked or prepared in our own school kitchen."  The fliers, distributed by Michael Sheehan, former president of the union representing the district's custodians and cafeteria workers, reference a pilot food-service program being started at the school on April 27

....... The current food-service program is not self-funding, running an annual operational loss of $775,000, mostly due to the $671,000 in benefits paid out to the district's 115 full- and part-time cafeteria workers. .....The company delivers the frozen meals compartmentalized. For instance, one container may include spaghetti and meatballs ready to warm and serve, while another is filled with mixed vegetables.

Source:BY DIANE C. BEAUDOIN, Leominster CHAMPION (MA),March 20, 2009

 

 ..... Jennifer Taralli, a kitchen helper at Samoset Middle School, and Darlene Spenser, baker at three city schools, have expressed deep concern about the possibility of loosing their jobs within the schools.

..... According to Taralli, the school meals are reimbursed by the state and those funds go into a revolving account, which in turn is used to purchase the food for the meals.  "This account has not been in the red since 1989, we are not loosing any money. This is the only department of the school that does not cost the city any money at all," she said. In total, the staff of cafeteria ladies is at 51, with 28 of those receiving health insurance through the city plan. The cafeteria staffers are also members the AFSCME, Local 93 union.

..... The cafeteria ladies expressed doubt that a private company would deliver the same quality and care to the breakfast and lunch menus.

Source:By BRIAN IANIERI, Press of Atlantic City (NJ),Wednesday, March 25, 2009

 

The kitchen in the Crest Haven Nursing Home is staffed by county employees afraid they will lose their jobs to outsourcing.  The concern spread to other areas of government - including housekeeping, facilities and services - as the county, which passed its budget in March without layoffs, is already studying cost-cutting measures for next year. ...... Joe Gariffo is president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3596, which represents more than half of the county's employees.

Source: UNITE HERE & SEIU Stir It Up, Fri, 01/30/2009 - 12:36

 .......  Stir It Up it is a website dedicated to helping students across the country take a stand and demand that their campus food service reflects the values of the students on campus. Too often administrators who oversee campus food service make decisions without any real input from the student body. Food service at college campuses and across the industry needs to change, and if that change is going to take place, it's going to be because of student activism and involvement.