Mayor de Blasio at a food pantry, pre-pandemic (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy is announcing the city’s first-ever 10-year food plan, called Food Forward NYC, to better address food insecurity, improve a number of food- and nutrition-related processes, and meet the requirements of legislation passed by the City Council early last year.

The policy, previewed by Gotham Gazette before its public release on Monday,

(photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

As New York City continues its struggle as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and its socioeconomic fallout, food insecurity continues to plague an increasing number of New Yorkers. Mayor Bill de Blasio has named a “food czar” and instituted a number of initiatives and added spending to attempt to address the problem, with the city giving out more than 10 million free meals in April and expecting to provide even more in

Council Speaker Johnson at a food pantry (photo: John McCarten/CityCouncil)

The City Council is expected to pass a package of food policy legislation on Tuesday, central components of an agenda laid out by Speaker Corey Johnson last August to strengthen relevant governance and food policy planning, while combating inequality and waste in the food supply chain.

One bill, sponsored by Council Member Vanessa Gibson, would require the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy to develop a ten-year plan to address food access and build a sustainable