Santa Barbara County Jail food remains unchanged

The Santa Barbara County jail will keep the same food service provider despite inmate complaints about bad food and the size of the servings.

Aramark Correctional Services, which took over food service at the jail last year has been the target of most of the complaints.

It has a seven year contract and was initially hired to save the county money. Despite the push back, in a 4-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors approved increasing Aramark’s contract cost by 2.3 percent– essentially a consumer price index increase. The board did express concerns and Supervisor Janet Wolf did not support the increase not only because of the quality of food complaints, but because she says the company is not living up to the initial goal of saving the county money. She says the increased cost fee could be spend on other needed resources.

Jail officials say the meals will stay the same and the service provider does meet all state standards.