AhlulBayt News Agency: The United States is planning to destroy nearly 500 tons of emergency food aid from a 60,000-ton stockpile held in warehouses around the world, while hunger grows globally.
Much of this food will expire by the end of July and is expected to be incinerated, costing an additional $130,000. Some portions may be repurposed for animal feed or disposed of through other means.
The stockpile has remained unused since the shutdown of USAID, ordered by the Trump administration in January.
Over 1,100 metric tons of emergency rations—including fortified wheat biscuits—were kept in a U.S. government warehouse in Dubai. These were intended to nourish 1.5 million malnourished children under five years old in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The value of the biscuits is estimated at $800,000, sufficient to feed the children for one week.
However, 500 tonnes of these high-energy biscuits are now spoiled and scheduled for incineration.
A memo warning about wasted taxpayer money led to a new agreement allowing the World Food Programme (WFP) to receive 622 metric tons of the aid.
The remaining stock includes vegetable oil and fortified grains worth over $98 million, enough to feed more than one million people for three months—or the entire population of Gaza for six weeks.
According to WFP, one metric ton of food can meet the daily nutritional needs of approximately 1,660 individuals.
The situation unfolds amid rising global hunger triggered by conflict, with WFP reporting that 343 million people face acute food insecurity, including 1.9 million teetering on the brink of famine—mostly in Gaza.
A State Department spokesperson stated that USAID continues to collaborate with partners to allocate emergency commodities before their expiration.
Despite these efforts, contract cancellations and frozen funds overseen by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have left warehouses in Djibouti, South Africa, Dubai, and Houston filled with unsent food.
In late March, UNICEF warned that 17 countries are running low on ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) due to funding cuts. This threatens to leave 2.4 million severely malnourished children without treatment for the remainder of the year.
Action Against Hunger, a non-profit organization that receives over 30% of its funding from the U.S., reported that American aid reductions have already resulted in the deaths of at least six children.
In fiscal year 2023, USAID had purchased over 1 million metric tons of food from American suppliers. Its dismantling risks exacerbating global hunger while also causing job losses among humanitarian workers and supply chain professionals who previously distributed aid worldwide.
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