‘LET’S DO THE BEEF’

School Official Looked the Other Way as Students Ate Tainted Chicken

Eric Goldstein, a former senior official in the Department of Education, was convicted of turning a blind eye as NYC students ate the tainted chicken tenders.

A former senior official in New York City’s Department of Education was on Wednesday found guilty in a sprawling bribery scheme that saw him turn a blind eye as public school students were served up chicken tenders tainted with bits of metal, plastic, and bone. The official, Eric Goldstein, was convicted of conspiracy, extortion, wire fraud, and taking bribes. His three co-defendants, the owners of a Texas-based food provider called Somma Food Group, were found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery. Goldstein, once the head of the department’s Office of School Support Services, brokered a corrupt business relationship with Somma in 2015, prosecutors said. “I’m going to buy a lot of fucking chicken from you guys,” Goldstein told one of Somma’s owners that year, according to prosecutors. “Let’s do the beef.” Goldstein then repeatedly cleared the way for the tainted food to appear on public school cafeteria menus, despite an increasing number disturbing reports, including a 2016 incident where a school employee choked on a bone, requiring the Heimlich maneuver.