"While public officials repeatedly talk about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating jobs in New York, the city's public schools spend nearly $300,000 a year on Romaine lettuce trucked in from California and Maryland.
That's one of the many inconsistencies between political rhetoric and reality that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn hopes to eliminate with a comprehensive reform of city food policy. On Monday she announced a six-month effort to examine the local food system and recommend improvements.
In the case of Romaine lettuce, that could involve building a plant in the city to wash, cut and bag lettuce so it is eligible for purchase by the Department of Education. Jobs would be created at the plant and at farms upstate, and emissions from transporting the lettuce would be reduced."