An Economy of Oranges and Soup

Hey, riddle me this:

Here at Blessington, the only folks who get fruits other than apples (regular or security modified) in their diet with ANY regularity are people who are on the Religious Dietary Plan (RDP), a.k.a. Certified Food Option (CFO).

Actual nutritionists can show that a diet with a selection of fruits leads to better health outcomes, as this introduces more and balanced nutrients into a person's diet. Oranges, as example, provide an abundance of vitamin C, when compared to apples; bananas provide a wealth of potassium; and so on.

However, we live in a place where to receive a fruit selection other than apples, you must elect to undertake a religious diet, or barter with someone who has and doesn't want the fruit for some reason (like not being fed correct portions of other foods, or detests bananas for their putrid smell, or can't eat oranges because the acid makes their stomach hurt).

I, as a diabetic on a 2600 Calorie Regulated diet, am only given apples in their regular or security modified forms. I get to barter with someone who would rather eat peanut butter over oranges because the oranges upset his stomach at night, leading him to need an expensive roll of Rolaids to ease the problem -- money the man does not have.
I would rather have the orange. I need the vitamins, fiber, and minerals present throughout. So he gets peanut butter from me; I get oranges from him in a way to get around a broken setup.

Still, it leads to a thought:

Given that HIG Capital owns both Keefe (our Commissary) and Trinity Services Group (our Food Service Company), it seems plausible that the refusal to serve the body incarcerated non-apple fruits is driven by a couple of flavors of greed.

• Trinity 'saves' dollars by getting low bid apples all the time (while ignoring farmers who might have had, say, grapes or cherries or peaches or some other fruit literally about to rot on the vine/tree/plant because of no willing buyer). The lack of labor spent in looking for those other fruits is an inverted case of sunk cost fallacy.
• Keefe makes dollars because people run to the window to buy $1.41 Maruchan ramen, just in case they hear the words "I gots an orange for a soup, not the cheap vegan ones." (I hear them a couple times a week here, and I'm hearing impaired, haha.)

Something, something, collusion.
Something, something, forcible monopolistic control of a vertical.
Something, something, eat the rich.

Solution?

Fruit diversity for everyone, bar none.
Wash the trays properly, throw out the ones that reek of sewage from the holes in them, put food on the trays that is not spoiled...
and send a box of pears up to the dorm for once.
and send a box of peaches up to the dorm for once.
and put a fistful of cherries on each of the trays for once.
and send a box of oranges up to the dorm for once.
and put a few figs on each of the trays for once.

Such "luxury", indeed, balancing the diets of wards of the state!

. o ( Wow, homeless people eat better than we do, and from cleaner surfaces. I'd know! I was homeless before with a backpack half-filled with fruits. )