Tons of food aid for children expire, leaving the Trump administration in trouble

"I don't have a good answer to that question," said State Department management and personnel official Michael Rigas, when asked about it before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Pressed by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, he then said, "I think this is simply a casualty of the closure of USAID," the U.S. agency for international development. He said he was "distressed" that the food was wasted in this way and promised to "find out what happened."

According to officials, the United States plans to incinerate the high-energy biscuits, intended for emergency feeding of malnourished young children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which expired in July at a warehouse in Dubai.

According to The Atlantic magazine, the United States purchased the cookies toward the end of Joe Biden's administration for about $800,000. American taxpayers will spend an additional $130,000 to destroy them. Senator Kaine said he raised the issue with Secretary of State Marco Rubio as early as March and lamented that nothing was done, with the government "preferring to keep the warehouse closed, let the food go bad, and then burn it" rather than distribute it.

After more than six decades, USAID officially ceased to exist on July 1, after the Trump administration deemed it no longer served the United States' interests. The agency was merged with the State Department. Its closure sent shockwaves through humanitarian circles.

Since returning to power in January, Donald Trump has embarked on massive cuts to international aid, eliminating 83% of funding for the US development agency's overseas programs. Under pressure from the White House and Elon Musk's Doge Commission, the US Congress is also expected to approve nearly $9 billion in budget cuts this week, including some $8 billion initially earmarked for international aid.

The State Department official, however, noted that the United States remains the world's largest donor of humanitarian aid. Michael Rigas also oversaw hundreds of layoffs at the State Department as part of the US president's sweeping cost-cutting campaign.