By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN —Prison rations are about to become even smaller.
Mayor Bloomberg will cut inmates' carbs as part of the latest plan to slim down the city budget, according to the New York Daily News.
As part of a $1.6 billion budget modification, Bloomberg proposes trimming Rikers Island resident's bread rations from eight whole wheat slices a day to six. The effort will reduce city costs by $350,000, the News reported.
"Since food is a big part of our budget, we tried to see what fell into [nutrition] guidelines and found we could make this small cut," Correction spokesperson Sharman Stein told the News.
The city will also knock chocolate and vanilla pudding off the menu under the plans. The cuts, which will bring inmates' calorie count down from 3000 to about 2500 or 2800, is a good thing, nutritionists told the News.
"They should be properly fed, but the majority of them don't need those extra calories," Manhattan nutritionist Keri Glassman told the News.
Some nutritionists warn, however, that the calorie cutdown shouldn't interfere with the inmates' health.
"They don't need six starches, but they need other healthy carbohydrates in the form of fruits and vegetables," New York University nutirition professor Lisa Young told the News.
The Rikers Island cuts are part of a larger budget proposal that would also cut 900 jobs through layoffs this year, with another 1,200 lost through attrition. The cuts will be even more severe in 2012, with more than 5,312 layoffs and another 3,000 jobs lost through attrition, DNAinfo.com reported.
