New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-05-10
FOOD WASTE LARGE
IN PENITENTIARIES
79S Pounds Thrown Away
from Single Meal in One
City Institution.
INVESTIGATOR SCORES
LOOSE MANAGEMENT
Makes Detailed Report on Kit.
chens and Dietaries of De.
partment of Correction.

Here is the menu which New York
City furnishes It's involuntary boarders
every Monday morning:
Breakfast-Rolled oats. milk, coffee.
corned beef hash, bread.
Dinner-Green pea soup. boiled beef.
vegetables. bread.
Supper-Baked beans. bread. coffee.
William Golden, OF the Kings Park
Hospital, has finished his investigation OF
the kitchens and dietaries of the various
city institutions under charge OF the De-
partment OF Correction. and yesterday
his report was made public.
Mr.. Golden finds that the above menu.
which in these days OF high cost OF Nv
ing is pretty fair as menus go, can be
furnished in abundance at a cost OF Is
cents a day for each person. In fact. the
investigator states that on such an al
lowance much more satisfactory and
diversified bill Of fare should be provided,
and reports that under the present sys-
tenn a large quantity Of good food goes
TO waste.
AT the workhouse he weighed the re-
turned food from dinner and supper on
April q. and found that 1t amounted to
73i pounds. On the following day he
weighed the returned food from the peni-
Tertiary for the three meals, and found
that 1857 pounds had been prepared In
excess of the amount consumed. This
meant that more than pound Of food
was prepared for each prisoner above the
quantity he ate.
I'm any well regulated institution"
says Mr.. Golden, the amount Of excess
weight should not exceed one-fourth of
pound per day a person. He criticises
severely the dietary management of both
the workhouse and penitentiary.
AT the mess halls in the penitentiary.
the report states. prisoners are packed
like sardines in box. on Wednesday,
April %, 800 pounds Of dried peas were
used 10 make the soup-about six times
more peas than were necessary-and were
therefore returned as plate scraps. BY
plate scraps is meant potatoes. other
vegetables and meat which cannot be
separated. The weight of the food which
was returned from dinner at the peni-
Tertiary and afterward thrown away fol-
lows: Plate scraps. 40 pounds; bread, 1886
pounds; meat, % pounds, and potatoes, 20
pounds" A total of 79S pounds of good
food thrown away as the waste from a
single meal in a single city institution.
Various recommendations are made In
the report for the elimination Of waste,
tho irnnroyemept of food served and, gen.
orally, for greater efficiency and econ
omy. Some of these Commissioner Da-
Wis has already accepted and put into
operation. In a statement Issued yester-
day the Commissioner said: when l
took office / found riots in progress in
several of the institutions because of
reductions in the dietary which were to
20 into effect January !, 1914. l soon
learned that 1t was absolutely necessary
to reorganize the system OF feeding the
prisoners and that a scientific and bal
anced dietary must be introduced.
Mr.. Golden's report shows what should
be expected where there Is no supervision
over the work of the various institutions
and where a central office is not able TO
know Just what food is being supplied
to each prisoner each day at all the in
stitutions.
my personal experience from the state
institutions enabled me to ascertain from
An inspection OF the old dietaries that II
should be possible to furnish more
varied, and consequently a more suitable,
diet for the inmates Of our institutions at
the same or lower cost per inmate"