The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Reposted by Kevin M. Kruse

Anne Applebaum
‪@anneapplebaum.bsky.social‬

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"Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people who need it"
@hana-kiros.bsky.social
, on spending $130,000 to burn food worth $800,000
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food
Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.
www.theatlantic.com
July 15, 2025 at 1:31 AM

"Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people who need it"
@hana-kiros.bsky.social, on spending 0,000 to burn food worth 0,000
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.bsky.social) 2025-07-15T05:31:51.599Z

Hana Kiros
‪@hana-kiros.bsky.social‬

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The administration will incinerate enough food to feed 1.5 million children for a week. When it burns, its label will read: THIS PRODUCT IS A GIFT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 500 tons, from us, to no one.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food
Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.
www.theatlantic.com
July 15, 2025 at 9:16 AM

The administration will incinerate enough food to feed 1.5 million children for a week. When it burns, its label will read: THIS PRODUCT IS A GIFT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 500 tons, from us, to no one.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

— Hana Kiros (@hana-kiros.bsky.social) 2025-07-15T13:16:03.435Z

HEALTH
The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food
Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

By Hana Kiros

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JULY 14, 2025, 10:21 PM ET

Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people abroad who need it. Nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food—enough to feed about 1.5 million children for a week—are set to expire tomorrow, according to current and former government employees with direct knowledge of the rations. Within weeks, two of those sources told me, the food, meant for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will be ash. (The sources I spoke with for this story requested anonymity for fear of professional repercussions.)

Sometime near the end of the Biden administration, USAID spent about $800,000 on the high-energy biscuits, one current and one former employee at the agency told me. The biscuits, which cram in the nutritional needs of a child under 5, are a stopgap measure, often used in scenarios where people have lost their homes in a natural disaster or fled a war faster than aid groups could set up a kitchen to receive them. They were stored in a Dubai warehouse and intended to go to the children this year.

{snip}