Chicken drumsticks with thick-red liquid oozing out and tenders with pieces of metal in them were served to New York City public school students, a Brooklyn federal jury heard Monday at the bribery trial of a former Department of Education official.
Jurors winced and averted their eyes as photos of Texas-based meat supplier Somma Foods’ tainted chicken tenders and drumsticks served to kids in 2016 were shown by prosecutors.
The stomach-churning demonstration came during the trial of Eric Goldstein – the former head of the DOE’s Office of School Support Services – who allegedly green-lit the gross food in exchange for bribes from the owners of Somma.
On Monday, a former supply chain manager for school foods, testified that her bosses allowed the chicken tenders to stay on the menu — despite several incidents that raised alarm bells.
“This product was extremely dangerous at the time,” Debra Ascher said.
Ascher said she expressed concern after Somma’s tenders were pulled twice – including a three-day stretch in Sept. 2016 where school food officials were alerted of bones and plastics found in the chicken.
One incident included a school food service manager needing the Heimlich maneuver after choking on a bone from a chicken tender.
Other alarms included reports of blood, “wire-like metal,” half-inch pieces of metal and blue plastic found in chicken tenders between Sept. 2016 and March 2017, according to an incident log cited by prosecutors.
The crispy tenders were pushed again to school menus by Jan. 2017, but Ascher told jurors she was sidelined after raising concerns.
“I was put to the back, put away. I was told to hold on, don’t do anything yet. It was status quo for me.”
Defense attorney Toby Romero attempted to downplay the number of incidents — focusing during cross-examination on how Somma’s yogurt parfaits and chicken drumstick were served to nearly 850,000 students.
“Is one in a million poor performance?,” Romeo asked about the drumsticks.
“One in one million is not poor performance,” Ascher replied.
Goldstein is on trial alongside Somma owners Brian Twomey, Michael Turley and Blaine Iler.
The defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit extortion and bribery, and Goldstein faces an additional charge of extortion.
If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison.
Ascher is expected to take the stand again Wednesday.
