The Rising Threat to New York City’s Food System

By Ilana Schwartz

The wholesale meat market, along with a produce market and a fish market, make up the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, the largest of its kind in the country. Together, they serve as the penultimate stop for 4.5 billion pounds of food that feed the city and surrounding areas each year.

“Hunts Point feeds the entire region,” said Ora Kemp, a senior policy advisor at the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. “That’s stock in grocery stores, all of our restaurants, all of our food service, our emergency food network.”

Losing access to that hub could be catastrophic for a city that produces almost none of its own food.

“If we don’t keep Hunts Point operational, the entire East Coast will suffer,” Kemp said.

Read the article on State of the Planet