Feeding prisoners is a bargain for Lehigh County - WFMZ Allentown

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ALLENTOWN, Pa. -

Ninety-four cents a meal.

That's all it will cost to feed inmates in Lehigh County Jail under a new contract approved by county commissioners Wednesday night.

'I'm a little uneasy about it,' admitted Edward Sweeney, the county's director of corrections. 'It is a very aggressive number.

'To my surprise, we were able to lower what I considered to already be an extremely low food cost.'

Sweeney assumed no one could compete with 98 cents a meal, which is what it now costs Trinity Services Group, the county's current food service provider, to feed prisoners. 'That includes staff, management fee, food product, everything.'

County commissioners approved a low-bid contract with A'viands, LLC, to provide comprehensive food services for the county's inmate population and corrections staff.

'They have committed to providing quality meals at the paltry sum of 94 cents a meal,' said Commissioner David Jones. He added the contract will save the county an estimated $125,000 in its first year.

'It's below the dollar menu at McDonald's,' quipped Commissioner Vic Mazziotti.Commissioner Percy Dougherty said feeding residents at the county's Cedarbrook nursing homes costs $21.94 a day - which comes to about $7.32 per meal.

'We have a new job for you,' Dougherty jokingly told Sweeney. 'If you can supply food to Cedarbrook, we can turn that facility around.'

'I think I'll pass on that,' said Sweeney.

The corrections director said A'viands is a new company.

'I'm not really sure they gave it their full due diligence,' he said, but added: 'They're certainly not a fly-by-night company. They're the third largest food service corrections company in the nation.

'On one hand, I have confidence in them. But on the other hand, I think that's going to be a tough number for them to meet. But that's their problem.'

'Hopefully, this isn't too good to be true - that somehow it comes back to bite us in the future,' said Commissioner Geoff Brace. 'But we have a contract.'

That four-year contract with the Minnesota-based company can be terminated by the county at any time.

A'viands will go to work on Oct. 1.

Sweeney said bids were sought from all the top national food service companies that do corrections work. 'A'viands gave us the lowest price.'

He admitted he would have loved to see Trinity Services Group, the current food vendor, continue to get the jail's business 'because they've done a good job' and their on-site food service manager 'has been with us, from company to company, for the last 33 years. He's actually going to be moving on now.'

But he said Trinity's bid came in about $125,000 a year more than A'viands' bid and about $160,000 a year more by the fourth year. 'The gap just kept getting a little bit bigger.'

One reason the meal price can be so low is because the prison has a cheap source of labor.

Sweeney explained the county will provide A'viands with 50 inmate workers per day, who can earn $1 to $3 per day. But he said up to four A'viands employees will be in the kitchen at all times to supervise the food preparation and clean-up.

Sweeney said prisoners get a nutritionally-balanced diet of 2,800 to 2,900 calories a day.

They get three meals a day, two of which have to be hot, on Mondays through Fridays. They do two hot meals a day on Saturdays and Sundays, including brunch.

Some stipulations of the contract:

*The vendor has to offer a four-week rotating menu, which must be approved by a registered dietician.

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