food aid to Katrina victims being destroyed by FDA

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: docx () io com
Date: September 20, 2005 4:52:06 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: food aid to Katrina victims being destroyed by FDA


For IP if you deem appropriate.  I can't come up with words to  
express my
astonishment at this.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/ 
tm_objectid=16147117&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=exclusive--58-- 
up-in-flames-name_page.html

EXCLUSIVE: UP IN FLAMES
Tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims to be  
BURNED  by
Americans

> From Ryan Parry, US Correspondent in New York

HUNDREDS of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving
Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned.

US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees.

Instead tons of the badly needed Nato ration packs, the same as  
those  eaten
by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human   
consumption.

And unless the bureaucratic mess is cleared up soon it could be sent for
incineration.

One British aid worker last night called the move "sickening
senselessness" and said furious colleagues were "spitting blood".

The food, which cost British taxpayers millions, is sitting idle in a  
huge
warehouse after the Food and Drug Agency recalled it when it had  
already  left
to be distributed.

Scores of lorries headed back to a warehouse in Little Rock,  
Arkansas, to
dump it at an FDA incineration plant.

The Ministry of Defence in London said last night that 400,000  
operational
ration packs had been shipped to the US.

But officials blamed the US Department of Agriculture, which  
impounded the
shipment under regulations relating to the import and export of meat.

The aid worker, who would not be named, said: "This is the most  
appalling  act
of sickening senselessness while people starve.

"The FDA has recalled aid from Britain because it has been condemned  
as  unfit
for human consumption, despite the fact that these are Nato approved   
rations
of exactly the same type fed to British soldiers in Iraq.

"Under Nato, American soldiers are also entitled to eat such rations,  
yet  the
starving of the American South will see them go up in smoke because  
of  FDA
red tape madness."

The worker added: "There will be a cloud of smoke above Little Rock  
soon -  of
burned food, of anger and of shame that the world's richest nation   
couldn't
organise a p**s up in a brewery and lets Americans starve while  they
arrogantly observe petty regulations.

"Everyone is revolted by the chaotic shambles the US is making of this
crisis. Guys from Unicef are walking around spitting blood.

"This is utter madness. People have worked their socks off to get  
food  into
the region.

"It is perfectly good Nato approved food of the type British  
servicemen  have.
Yet the FDA are saying that because there is a meat content and it   
has come
from Britain it must be destroyed.

"If they are trying to argue there is a BSE reason then that is
ludicrously out of date. There is more BSE in the States than there  
ever  was
in Britain and UK meat has been safe for years."

The Ministry of Defence said: "We understand there was a glitch and  
these
packs have been impounded by the US Department of Agriculture under
regulations relating to the import and export of meat.

"The situation is changing all the time and at our last meeting on  
Friday  we
were told progress was being made in relation to the release of  
these  packs.
The Americans certainly haven't indicated to us that there are any  more
problems and they haven't asked us to take them back."

Food from Spain and Italy is also being held because it fails to meet US
standards and has been judged unfit for human consumption.

And Israeli relief agencies are furious that thousands of gallons of  
pear
juice are to be destroyed because it has been judged unfit.

The FDA said: "We did inspect some MREs (meals ready to eat) on  
September  13.
They are the only MREs we looked at. There were 70 huge pallets of   
vegetarian
MREs.

"They were from a foreign nation. We inspected them and then released  
them
for distribution."




--
Dylan Northrup - docx () io com - http://www.io.com/~docx/
"Harder to work, harder to strive, hard to be glad to be alive, but it's
 really worth it if you give it a try." -- Cowboy Mouth, 'Easy'



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