Root Vegetables and Lemon
Photo: Cristian Baitg/Copyright Cristian Baitg
An audit by comptroller John Liu found that the city’s Department of Education paid markups as high as 890 percent for school food items like parsley, scallions, and radishes, the New York Post reports. Part of the problem was the DOE’s failure to renegotiate contracts for fluctuating items, causing it to pay $2.32 for parsley that costs 26 cents and $1.03 for scallions that go for 12 cents. More disturbing for auditors was the city’s frequent reliance on vendors to self-certify the delivery of products. More surprising than anything is that city schools actually serve vegetables other than pizza.
