School nutrition director ousted
The Boston public schools ousted their longtime director of food and nutrition services yesterday after finding 280 cases of out-of-date food in 40 cafeterias amid allegations from a city councilor of systemic mismanagement and widespread waste.Lovely. Further on in the story we find out that it's possible that school kids may have been fed food that expired in 2008 or 2009. Now, granted, it could have been something as innocuous as frozen hamburger patties that were "use by 12/09" that were thawed and used in 2010 - which I would guess we've all done at some point. But it's rather interesting that the school was paying some $70K+ a year for cold storage while ordering more food of the same type that was already there. It's either gross incompetence or downright malfeasance - neither an appealing option.
School officials said they have set aside 3,049 more cases of food, worth roughly $107,000, in a privately operated supply warehouse in Wilmington because records do not readily show expiration dates or “best-if-used-by’’ dates. Officials are peeling away plastic packaging on the pallets, looking for dates or other clues to how long the food has been in storage.
And ousted? Technically true, but on the second page of the article, we find out that:
The food and nutrition director, Helen Mont-Ferguson, was reassigned yesterday within the department as the city launches a national search for her replacement, Goar said.Got that? She was removed as the director, but keeps her job. How much do you want to bet that she winds up somewhere with less responsibility at the same rate of pay? You've got to love a system where someone can screw up on this large of a scale, in a move that will ultimately cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dolllars, and remain gainfully employed.
MA: You're more likely to keep suckling at the government teat despite your inadequacies here...
That is all.
4 comments:
We pull food out of the freezer all the time that's past the sell-by date. I have little concern.
That being said when we re-stock the freezer so we keep everything first-in-first-out so the oldest stuff gets eaten before the new stuff.
We do the same thing here in the lab with our Animal supplies, and lab supplies. Even on a larger scale it isn't that hard.
But then again I'm smarter than a hack...
Actually, there is a problem with trying to find out what the damn Expiration Dates really are. I find it amazing that no one in the White House has taken the time to make the Food Producers place the Expiration dates in an accessible spot that everyone can read w/o the use of a Magnifying Glass. I thought they had a Czar for these issues!
Betcha that Director was getting Kick Backs to keep on buying extra food from Tony and Guido's Sicilian Food Service Company.
Betcha that Director was getting Kick Backs to keep on buying extra food from Tony and Guido's Sicilian Food Service Company.
And Bingo was his name-o.
Of course she won't get fired, she might talk if she did.
I'm just glad they're launching a national search, to find the best-qualified person, regardless of political connections. :)
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