Nearly 500 metric tons of food intended for foreign aid are set to expire this month after the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to multiple media reports.
USAID was one of the first agencies that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency targeted in the radical downsizing of the federal workforce. The agency was the world’s biggest foreign aid agency. The State Department, which now oversees whats left of USAID, said the cuts aren’t what caused the food to expire.
But Reuters and The Atlantic have reported that nearly 500 metric tons of high-energy biscuits used to fight hunger in emergencies are going to expire in July while in a warehouse in Dubai, a result of administrative changes that disrupted the processes for food to reach its destinations abroad.
‘We have to try lifting ourselves’: USAID workers fired months ago are still scrambling for jobs
Is the Trump administration destroying food aid?
The biscuits will be destroyed once they expire, possibly by incineration, Reuters and the Atlantic reported.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed in May that the U.S. would still be the world’s biggest provider of food assistance while moving policies closer to national interests. In answering a question during a House Appropriations Committee meeting, he said food aid would not go to waste.
The State Department did not comment specifically on the expiring biscuits in Dubai when asked by USA TODAY, but told Reuters they were purchased under the Biden administration “as a contingency beyond projections,” resulting in their expiration. A spokesperson said that the policy is not to distribute food that is nearing its shelf life, and that standard protocol is to destroy it.
The nearly 500 metric tons of expiring biscuits in Dubai are part of more than 60,000 metric tons of food stored in U.S. government warehouses around the world, according to Reuters.
More than 600 metric tons of the biscuits, which are high in calories and vitamins to help people survive emergencies, were recently approved to go to Syria, Bangladesh and Myanmar, according to Reuters.
What is USAID?
USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, was originally a standalone agency and the world’s largest foreign aid agency.
As part of Trump’s efforts to downsize the federal government, he set out to dismantle the agency and it has since been moved under the State Department.
The archived website states the agency’s mission is to “promote and demonstrate democratic values abroad, and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.”
On July 1, the defunct agency officially stopped issuing foreign aid, Rubio said in a statement.
“Moving forward, our assistance will be targeted and time limited. We will favor those nations that have demonstrated both the ability and willingness to help themselves and will target our resources to areas where they can have a multiplier effect and catalyze durable private sector, including American companies, and global investment,” Rubio’s “Making Foreign Aid Great Again,” statement read.
Contributing: Eric Lagatta, Terry Collins, USA TODAY Network
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is the Trump administration burning food? What to know in USAID halt
