Kansas City Health Department pours bleach on food meant for homeless people

[mahatmakanejeeves]

WhatCouldGoWrongHat Retweeted

Not only did Kansas City officials destroy a batch of food intended for homeless people, they *conducted a sting operation* to catch other charity groups who might be feeding the homeless without a permit.

Link to tweet

Kansas City Health Department pours bleach on food meant for homeless people

POSTED: NOV 11 2018 07:18PM CST

UPDATED: NOV 12 2018 06:58AM CST

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI (Fox 32 News) - The Kansas City Health Department threw away and poured bleach on food meant for homeless people.

The food was going to be distributed by a group called Free Hot Soup KC. The Kansas City Star said that the food, which included home-cooked chili, foil wrapped sandwiches and vats of soup, was destroyed on Sunday, Nov. 5, during a coordinated sting at several parks where volunteers had gathered.

The Health Department said the group did not have a permit and was putting people at risk. ...
"E. coli or salmonella or listeria can grow in the food," department director Rex Archer said. "And then you give that to homeless people who are more vulnerable, they will end up in the ER and even die from that exposure."

The mayor also agreed with the Health Department, tweeting that "Rules are there to protect the public's health, and all groups must follow them, no exceptions." ... One of the leaders of Free Soup KC said they will continue to hand out free food, but will just do it on private property.

Regarding the incident involving Free Hot Soup & @KCMOHealthDept: Rules are there to protect the public's health, and all groups must follow them, no exceptions.

Link to tweet

This thread unrolls:

There is a lot of discussion about the food destruction issue and I’m happy to tell you some things I have learned about this incident:1) At the meeting of the North Blue RidgeNeighborhood Association, a representative of Free Hot Soup was advised (1)

Link to tweet

[Doreen]

1. Hmm, gee, hmm, what if they had put just enough in so it was not noticed until consumed?

I would call that attempted murder.

Also depriving people of food can kill them to....attempted murder?

OK, I know that sounds like a crazy thought ( probably is ) but with what is going on in this country...

I volunteer for feeding the homeless and I can tell you that following the rules as far as making sure the food is not contaminated is very high on the list.

I can understand if the food was proven to be contaminated but just walking in and doing that is wrong.

It in its own way it is funny because I have rarely heard about contamination outbreaks in homeless feeding programs than I have about all of these restaurants who have all of these permits and everybody has training ( go figure. )

[matt819]

2. Fucking monsters

Hey, how about this? Why not work with groups providing food to ensure that all rules and regulations are met, or work with them to waive some rules JUST SO HOMELESS PEOPLE CAN GET SOME FUCKING FOOD!!

I have volunteered at my local homeless shelter for almost five years. Everyone has his/her own story. Not everyone is going to be your new best friend. Some are a real pain in the butt. Some are pretty interesting. Some are down on their luck, others are chronically homeless by choice and rely on the kindness of communities. But they are all human beings, and, you know something, they like to be acknowledged as such. They are not invisible, and they are not going away. And, yet, municipalities do this kind of shit all the time. In my town, the city has thwarted every single effort over the past five years to find a new, larger shelter. Every single effort. No zoning variance. No accommodations. No exceptions. We haven't had the food issue described in the OP, but I don't put it past the city to try this at some point.

I'm disappointed to see this coming from a Democrat.

This kind of crap makes me sick.

[Rebl2]

3. Saw this

on a local station in K.C. and one of the people from the group said they were friends with these folks. Easy solution. Invite them into your home to feed them, then there would be no problem.