NORWICH – A new food delivery service for inmates and corrections staff at the Chenango County Public Safety Facility could cut meal costs by nearly 50 percent, Chenango County Sheriff Thomas J. Loughren said.

Following a recent tour of New York State’s Food Production Center in Rome, the Sheriff told supervisors last week that he was “impressed” by the quality and low cost of the food items available.

Loughren had originally doubted whether the service would actually cut what he said was the county’s already low price per meal. The county’s cost has been about $4 for three meals per day versus the state’s average of $5 a day.

The food production center currently serves 62,000 inmates at all of the state’s correctional facilities with more than 83 million pounds of food and drink annually. The center began serving county jail populations just this year.

Prices for individual food items available through the potential new vendor represent “a substantial savings,” Loughren said.