Food rations, even for those performing hard physical labor or working 10 hours a day or longer, were not sufficient. Many workers collapsed at work because of hunger and exhaustion. There was shortage of food in the ghetto, and few available products were of extremely bad quality. What is very significant: in documents and diaries from Łódź Ghetto the assigned amounts of basic necessities were given in decagrams (bread, meat, potatoes), milliliters (oil, vinegar) or single pieces (matches). In the accounts describing the reality of the ghetto, the word “erzats” is frequently used, along with examples of inedible products that residents of the ghetto ate though. All food in the ghetto was rationed, and the system of assignments and food stamps was corrupted – it was an important problem in the realities of the ghetto (often ignored nowadays), that there were privileged groups backed by ghetto officials who could receive bigger rations, while others starved.