Trump Burns 500 Tons of Food Instead of Feeding Starving Children
U.S. destroys aid stockpile this week as political motives eclipse humanitarian need.
U.S. Chooses Flames as Stockpile Nears Expiration
The Trump administration has ordered the destruction of nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food — enough to feed 1.5 million children for a week — rather than distribute it to hungry children abroad, according to a report by The Atlantic.
Political Gesture Overrides Humanitarian Imperatives
Stored in a Dubai warehouse since late last year, the high-energy biscuits were purchased during President Biden’s final months for $800,000. They were designed to nourish children under five in Afghanistan and Pakistan. When President Donald Trump froze foreign aid in January, career aid workers sent repeated memos requesting permission to distribute the biscuits.
Those pleas went unanswered. Political appointees at the State Department and the Department of Government Efficiency allowed the food to sit idle past its expiration. This week, the administration chose to spend another $130,000 to incinerate it — a decision many officials say was more about political messaging than logistics.
Bureaucracy Paralyzed by Politics
The food’s fate underscores the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which was dissolved earlier this year by Elon Musk’s DOGE agency and folded into the State Department. Approval authority fell first to Pete Marocco, then to Jeremy Lewin — neither responded to memos, according to USAID employees.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured Congress in May that no food would be wasted. But according to employees, the incineration order had already been signed weeks earlier. That silence would prove decisive as the biscuits’ expiration date loomed.
Missed Opportunities as Hunger Grows
Experts say the biscuits could have gone to crises beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan, including Sudan, now facing the world’s worst famine. UAE law prohibits using expired biscuits even as animal feed, so destruction was inevitable after expiration.
One veteran USAID worker said he had never seen the U.S. waste this much food in decades of service, calling it deliberate. WFP estimates that 58 million people globally face starvation this year, and the biscuits could have met the nutritional needs of every malnourished child in Gaza for a week.
Political Priorities Overshadow Humanitarian Need
The incinerated biscuits are just a fraction of U.S. food aid. But with aid programs gutted and logistics staff laid off, even small losses carry weight. USAID records from January showed more than 60,000 metric tons of food still sitting in warehouses worldwide, including stockpiles earmarked for Sudan and the Horn of Africa.
Hundreds of thousands of boxes of emergency pastes remain unmoved. Meanwhile, suppliers say the government has placed no new orders. NPR reported that in April the U.S. eliminated all humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and Yemen, citing terrorism concerns. No justification was given for halting aid to Pakistan.
One USAID employee summarized the situation: “We had food. We had the means. But the administration chose to burn it rather than help starving kids.”
Withholding food from the hungry is equivalent to manslaughter. The number of people who may die as a result of actions such as this is incalculable and must not continue to be addressed with indifference.
No words. This regime is horrible.