Red-faced Rikers Island jail honchos last week ordered city cooks to toss 14,000 rotten Jamaican beef patties into the trash, the Daily News has learned.The estimated $11,000 worth of rancid meat stuck to pans while emitting a nauseating smell once they were heated, several cooks and a top supervisor said.
"It was like the sewage. We didn't realize until we started cooking it," a jail chef said.
A city Correction Department spokeswoman insisted the lost meat was worth only $4,100.
But an internal document obtained by The News supported the account of multiple sources that it was worth more than double that amount.
The 1,450 cases of vile patties were bought two weeks ago from a new contractor, Robbins Sales, a wholesale canned food firm in Woodbury, L.I.
The department admitted some of the meat was tossed, but said other cases were returned.
"The meat was not spoiled, but as it could not be properly cooked, the patties could not be served to inmates," said spokeswoman SharmanStein.
She said that the city's purchasing department was immediately notified and is seeking a replacement for the rotten patties. Internal department documents show city inspectors notified Robbins Sales that the meat was sticking together and impossible to cook.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Robbins Sales President Jeffery Zwecker told The News when asked about the meat, but Stein says the distributor has promised to reimburse the city in full.
Veteran jail kitchen staffers said they didn't understand how the meat wasn't checked before it was delivered.
BY Reuven Blau
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
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