All meals are labeled in accordance with regulations set forth by the Meat Inspection Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Pronto Food Corp. has distribution in every city in the United States. Meals can be delivered by a frozen food distributor on either a refrigerated or frozen vehicle, on a schedule to be determined by the user. In areas where local distribution is not feasible and adequate freezer storage is available, it is possible to receive quantity shipments direct from our plant in Chicago. It should be made clear that Pronto Food Corp.'s only business is the manufacture of fully cooked foods. The services, utensils, equipment, beverage, dessert, and bakery products must be handled on a local level. However, we do have a large technical services staff available to instruct and assist local personnel in the proper use and handling of our products. This service is, of course, available at no cost. Including the addition of a beverage, dessert, roll, and butter, it is possible, through the use of Pronto's "On-tray" to serve hot, complete, nutritionally balanced meals for less than 50 cents per person per meal. It is our hope that after reviewing the foregoing statement we will have an opportunity to present our meals for taste and evaluation. Thank you. Senator EAGLETON. Thank you, Mr. Drucker. You say in your statement, "Pronto Food Corp. has distribution in every city in the United States." Do you really mean every city in the United States? Mr. DRUCKER. Yes, sir; every city in the United States. Mr. DRUCKER. Yes, sir. We have frozen food distributors in every major city, and most distributors cover an area up to 300 miles. Some of them cover as much as a complete State and therefore they all overlap. There isn't a city we couldn't get to. Senator EAGLETON. All right. Is Chicago the area in which you distribute the most widely? Mr. DRUCKER. No, sir. Our manufacturing facility is in Chicago. Senator EAGLETON. What is your best sales area, what metropolitan area? Mr. DRUCKER. Probably our largest volume would come from the State of Ohio or the State of Texas. Senator EAGLETON. Let's take Cleveland, Ohio? Mr. DRUCKER. Yes, sir. Senator EAGLETON. I don't know what would be the evaluating index used in your business. Do you compute it in terms of meals? Do you ship it in terms of one-meal containers or a case of meals? Mr. DRUCKER. Normally we ship by truckload to a distributor who then stores the product and then it is sold by the case. Senator EAGLETON. By the case. All right. How many cases-and I know these figures will come from the top of your head-of meals were distributed, say, in Cleveland, in the past month? I am trying to get an idea of how widespread your service is in a given metropolitan area. Mr. DRUCKER. We would deliver as few as one or two cases or as many as necessary, depending upon the program. I should explain possibly that these meals are used for various programs. In other words, if we were talking about a program for feeding the elderly or schoolchildren, or a program for possibly mobile cateers or indigent feeding programs, et cetera-for example, in the city of Chicago, where we are supplying the meals for the indigent feeding programs, those meals are picked up at our plant on a daily basis. In New York City where we are supplying the meals for the New York City schools, we ship into a central warehouse and they deliver and transport the meals on a daily basis. Senator EAGLETON. With whom do you contract, say, in Cleveland, or in Boston? Pick any city that you feel comfortable with. Who buys your meals? Where do you get your check? Mr. DRUCKER. In Boston, in the Franklin Square project. In the city of Chicago in the indigent feeding program, one of the large vending companies, management companies, purchased the meals. They have the contract with the city utilizing our meals. In many school districts, the schools buy directly from our company or possibly from one of our distributors. It depends on the individual programs. It could be handled either way. Senator EAGLETON. With respect to the elderly in Boston, there is a project. What is it called? Mr. DRUCKER. The Franklin Square House. Senator EAGLETON. Is this a complex of housing in which there are predominantly elderly people? Mr. DRUCKER. Franklin Square House is now an activity center for elderly people where meals are being served. These meals are being supplied by our subsidiary company, Claridge Frozen Foods. (Subsequent information supplied concerning the Franklin Square House lunch program may be found in the files of the subcommittee.) Senator EAGLETON. And they contract with you and your distributor for these meals? Mr. DRUCKER. Yes, sir; with the distributor. In Idaho, the Idaho State Hospital uses our meals for feeding and we contract directly with the Idaho State Hospital. The meals are shipped directly from our plant in Chicago to their central freezer and they handle the distribution to their various units. Senator EAGLETON. You have a distributor in Boston that has a big warehouse? Mr. DRUCKER. Yes, sir. Correct. Senator EAGLETON. Then he distributes out of there to the various places? Mr. DRUCKER. Yes; on a daily basis, twice weekly, whichever is needed. Senator EAGLETON. In terms of variety, how many different types of meals might you have in warehouses in Boston? Mr. DRUCKER. Currently we have a 20-menu cycle. A 4-week, 5-day cycle. But there are 20 meals. If they wanted to use them for 7-day feeding programs, then it would be a 3-week cycle. Currently we are adding additional meals all the time so that we probably will have around 50 meals by the end of the year, 50 different menus. Senator EAGLETON. So you do have a variety, and, of course, you have a nutritionist and other experts that see that everything is balanced out. Mr. DRUCKER. We have an A.D.A. dietician on our staff as well as a technical services group that prepare the menus to meet the nutritional requirements of whatever group we are feeding. Senator EAGLETON. Bearing in mind I am a layman, would your meal in appearance be similar to what in my house we call a TV dinner? Mr. DRUCKER. Yes, sir. Senator EAGLETON. And there would be little trays Mr. DRUCKER. It would be a small compartment or tray. Senator EAGLETON. With a vegetable, perhaps potatoes, and some kind of a meat dish? Mr. DRUCKER. Meat or poultry or seafood. Mr. DRUCKER. Yes, sir. Senator EAGLETON. And is your cost 50 cents each meal or 60 or 40? Mr. DRUCKER. No. Our cost of the meal, including the cost of distribution is 34 cents. In other words, we are talking about the price that could be delivered to the individual feeding unit at. For our meal alone approximately 34 cents. Now, if the unit was large enough that they can take a direct shipment, eliminating the cost of distribution it would be somewhere around 28 cents to 29 cents. To this you would have to add your bread, butter, dessert, and beverage, which would then bring the cost up somewhere around 50 cents by the time you included your utensils, napkins, et cetera. But the total meal if it was delivered through a distributor, including the cost of distribution, could be delivered to the recipient for less than 50 cents. Senator EAGLETON. Are you the biggest producer in the country in this line of endeavor? Mr. DRUCKER. I believe we are, sir. Senator EAGLETON. Do the companies, like Swanson and—we have one in my State of Missouri Mr. DRUCKER. Banquet. Senator EAGLETON. Yes, Banquet. Do they attempt to get into this market with respect to, say, the elderly, or do they strictly sell through Safeway, A. & P., Kroger, et cetera? Mr. DRUCKER. I believe the companies such as Banquet and Morton, and companies of this nature, are not involved in the feeding for the senior citizens and other federally funded programs. They are basically with the school feeding which we are also involved in. We got into this program approximately 1 year ago, with the indigent feeding program in Chicago, where we began to develop these menus for feeding in a program of this type. From that we got into school feeding. Our basic business is actually cooked meat products which we sell institutionally. We sell to the major school districts across the country, as well as the military. We are currently serving the State of Massachusetts in their State program of convenience foods to the various State institutions. Also the State of Texas and other States across the country. Also I might mention that the St. Louis Board of Education is utilizing these products also. But we recognized about 6 months ago that there were many other programs, namely child nutrition, senior citizens, et cetera, which could utilize these meals, and, therefore, we developed the menus that would fit all programs just as well as they would fit the school program. Senator EAGLETON. You sell to school districts. Do you sell commercially to Kroger, A. & P., Safeway, et cetera ? Mr. DRUCKER. No, sir; we do not sell retail at all. Our name is not a byword with the American housewife. They would not be familiar with the name Pronto because our products are not sold in the retail markets. Senator EAGLETON. Thank you very much, Mr. Drucker. It has been very interesting testimony. Mr. DRUCKER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator EAGLETON. The National Association of Retired Federal Employees, Mr. Thomas G. Walters, president, and Mr. Clarence M. Tarr, vice president. STATEMENT OF THOMAS G. WALTERS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED FEDERAL EMPLOYEES; ACCOMPANIED BY CLARENCE M. TARR, VICE PRESIDENT Mr. WALTERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Tarr and I are delighted to have the opportunity of appearing before you this morning and to generally endorse the intent of Senate bills 887 and 1163 and 1925. I would certainly like to associate our organization and endorse the contents of your statement that you presented this morning as well as the statement that was presented by Senator Kennedy. I noted two paragraphs in Senator Kennedy's statement that I have been agreeing with for many years, and I would just like to again call it to the attention of this committee and to those present. He is referring to the people that we are trying to help and he says, "They have low incomes, inadequate kitchen facilities and a budget on which food is the only element that can be cut." Now I think if we would just think there for a moment, these people who are living on very limited amounts of food, and then to make a statement that the only place that they can squeeze any more blood out of the turnip is out of the food-"They are unaware of the foods they ought to purchase, and if they were, they usually are unable to prepare them as they should." And this question of loneliness in the next paragraph is something that I find throughout the country as I attend our meetings, that loneliness in the sense of alienation of a single elderly person removes the incentive to plan and prepare nutritional meals. Now, it seems to me that if the Members of Congress would think for a few moments on these paragraphs here and of your statement, that you wouldn't have the difficulty that you have experienced both in the House and Senate in doing the things that you feel should be done. If we had 51 Senators that feel as you and Senator Kennedy, then we wouldn't have any problem in this body. But that is not the way life is made up. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would like to file our statement and then to just touch on a few paragraphs. Senator EAGLETON. Your entire statement will be made a part of the record. (Prepared statement of Thomas G. Walters follows:) NATIONAL AssociatION OF RETIRED FEDERAL EMPLOYEES 1909 QUE STREET. N. W.. WASHINGTON, D. C. 20009 AREA CODE 202. 234-0832 STATEMENT BY THOMAS G. WALTERS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL Honorable Thomas F. Eagleton, Chairman, Senate Sub-Committee on Aging Washington, D. C. Dear Senator Eagleton: Mr. Chairman and members of the Sub-Committee, by way of introduction Mr. Chairman, we express our thanks and appreciation to you and to all |