Dozens of bags filled with food, some of it in its original packaging, were all left out with the trash on a Southern Boulevard sidewalk, right outside of a Bronx school Thursday.
News 12 went to the city’s Department of Education for answers.
An agency spokesperson tells News 12 that the school’s refrigerators and freezers malfunctioned leaving all of the food - like unopened bags of bagels, entire loaves of bread, pounds of chicken nuggets, burgers, even carrots and other options— all compromised and unsafe to eat.
The DOE says it will make sure that all of this is properly disposed of — adding that staff is trained to prepare and discard of food so that there is minimal waste.
However, those in the Crotona Park neighborhood worry that this massive pile of trash is about to become an even bigger mess.
The DOE added that the only reason food would ever be left outside of a school building is that it’s not safe — warning people not to help themselves to anything in the pile.