US says 500 metric tons of expired food aid destroyed won’t affect future help to Haiti, other urgent-need areas

By Matthew Lee | Associated Press – Additional reporting and editing by The Haitian Times

The U.S. State Department said last week that its destruction of 500 metric tons of emergency food aid—stored in a Middle East warehouse and deemed expired—will not impact future humanitarian deliveries to crisis zones such as Haiti, where millions face acute hunger.

The destroyed stockpile consisted of high energy biscuits typically used to meet the immediate nutritional needs of children during humanitarian emergencies. With Haiti experiencing its worst hunger crisis on record—5.7 million people projected to be food insecure, according to the U.N.—officials said the expired aid would be replaced and distribution to high-need areas would continue.

The high-energy biscuits had been stored in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to respond to global emergencies but could no longer be safely sent to potential recipients, so it was destroyed, department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters Thursday.

The issue, first reported by The Atlantic, has been repeatedly raised in congressional hearings this week, especially amid concerns about countries like Haiti, where escalating violence, displacement, and economic turmoil have pushed more than two million people into emergency-level hunger, according to a U.N. World Food Programme assessment in April.

Democratic lawmakers have accused the Trump administration of worsening global humanitarian needs by suspending most foreign assistance in its first month in office.

The administration has dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, the primary agency distributing food aid abroad, and Trump is set to rescind billions of dollars in foreign assistance after congress gave approval for the historic cuts on Friday morning, July 18.

Bruce said the amount destroyed was less than 1% of the 1 million metric tons of food assistance the U.S. provides each year. She also suggested the stockpile would be replaced but could not confirm whether the U.S. would maintain current levels of aid moving forward.

“If something is expired, we will destroy it,” Bruce said, dismissing calls for the government to redirect the food to aid agencies. “It’s a matter of whether or not it’s safe to distribute.”

She added that stockpiles are often stored in regions at high risk for famine or disaster — such as the Horn of Africa, Sudan and the Caribbean — and that similar losses have occurred under past administrations.

The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen, asked Deputy Secretary of State for Management Michael Rigas on Wednesday about the destruction and secured a pledge to inventory current food stocks.

“If the State Department doesn’t have the officials to distribute it, let’s give it to other aid organizations,” Shaheen said. “So it’s not going to waste, and people are getting the benefit of not only what American taxpayers pay for, but the people who are truly desperate.”

She noted stocks of cooking oil sitting in a Houston port and food aid stored in Djibouti may also soon expire.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has reported delivering 740,000 hot meals to more than 112,000 displaced Haitians so far in 2025 — but with over 8,400 Haitians projected to face famine-level conditions, more aid is urgently needed.

Rigas responded that the administration does not intend to deliberately waste aid and pledged improved distribution practices moving forward.

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