The federal government gets much of attention for being The Worst™, and rightfully so. But oftentimes local governments and their officials are truly as awful as they come.

The latest tale of sorry and woe comes to you from Kansas City. There, Health Department officials poured bleach on 700 lbs of BBQ that was set aside for the needy, rendering it inedible. Worse still, thousands who showed up for a BBQ lunch were turned away because there was nothing left to feed them.

Why was the food tossed? A labelling issue. Supposedly. Though the Health Inspectors wouldn’t elaborate. They also said they couldn’t tell where the food came from, but according to Hope City, they never bothered to ask.

Fox4KC reported:

Volunteers collected thousands of pounds of what they call “perfectly good barbecue” from the annual event to feed the hungry. But when Kansas City health inspectors found it, they threw it in the garbage. Harvesters Community Food Network said a labeling error led to the issue, but didn’t elaborate on how it occurred.

Hope City, the organization that helps to collect the leftover BBQ from the American Royal BBQ festival, sent trucks with food safety experts to ensure all food was handled properly upon collection.

“It was the whole gamut, if you can think of the most magnificent barbecue spread that’s what we threw away yesterday by the hundreds of pounds,” Hope City Associate Director Bill Durkes said. For five years now Kookers Kare, a group of barbecue chefs with hearts as big as their stomachs, has worked with Harvesters to collect the extra food not turned over to judges at the competition. This year that was more than 3,000 pounds of meat, and 1,200 pounds of sides. The organization’s president, Gary Denham, said they had a refrigerated truck at American Royal, and his team of food safety experts only collected food that was either piping hot or ice cold. It’s then distributed to ministries with food kitchens like Hope City on Kansas City’s East side. “Everyone out there is like all right we are going to eat. Beans, potatoes, brisket, burnt ends, ribs, it’s awesome,” Durkes said. But when Kansas City health inspectors showed up just as they were about to pass out the food to 150 hungry and needy recipients, the inspector ordered about 700 pounds of barbecue to be thrown out. It was then covered in bleach to make sure no one tried to get it out of the dumpster. “They were expecting lunch and for it to be a really good lunch and just having it taken away it was a bummer, we were all bummed out,” Durkes said. Health officials say the food was destroyed because it wasn’t from a permitted establishment, and they couldn’t track where the food had been. Therefore, they couldn’t ensure it’s safety. Denham said if health inspectors had any questions they should have just asked. Instead hundreds already went hungry, and it appears as many as 3,000 people won’t get meals as a result of the recall.

3,000 people could’ve been fed. THANK GOD the government was there to make sure they go hungry!

Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye



