Food aid—enough to feed 1.5 million children for a week—will be burned to ash in coming weeks
The Trump administration has reportedly ordered the incineration of approximately 500 metric tons of emergency food aid—enough to feed 1.5 million children for a week—instead of distributing it to vulnerable populations. The food, consisting of high‑energy biscuits purchased by USAID near the end of the Biden administration, was stored in a Dubai warehouse destined for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Aid agency staff have warned for months that the shipments “would go to waste” without political approval, but repeated requests to transfer them to the World Food Programme were ignored. Within weeks, the rations—costing around $800,000—must be destroyed at a further cost of $130,000.
One unnamed aid worker said they had “never before seen the U.S. government simply give up on food that could have been put to good use.” USAID officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had pledged to avoid “food going to waste,” but the incineration directive had already been issued.