What's worse? No food or some with fat and salt?
Acg67
Posts: 12,142 Member
Ah the nanny state/food police strike again.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/19/bloomberg-strikes-again-nyc-bans-food-donations-to-the-homeless/
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s food police have struck again!
Outlawed are food donations to homeless shelters because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content, reports CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.
Glenn Richter arrived at a West Side synagogue on Monday to collect surplus bagels — fresh nutritious bagels — to donate to the poor. However, under a new edict from Bloomberg’s food police he can no longer donate the food to city homeless shelters.
It’s the “no bagels for you” edict.
“I can’t give you something that’s a supplement to the food you already have? Sorry that’s wrong,” Richter said.
Richter has been collecting food from places like the Ohav Zedek synagogue and bringing it to homeless shelters for more than 20 years, but recently his donation, including a “cholent” or carrot stew, was turned away because the Bloomberg administration wants to monitor the salt, fat and fiber eaten by the homeless.
Richter said he was stunned. He said his family has eaten the same food forever and flourished.
“My father lived to 97; my grandfather lived to 97, and they all enjoyed it and somehow we’re being told that this is no good and I think there is a degree of management that becomes micromanagement and when you cross that line simply what you’re doing is wrong,” Richter said.
But Mayor Bloomberg, a salt-aholic himself, was unapologetic.
“For the things that we run because of all sorts of safety reasons, we just have a policy it is my understanding of not taking donations,” Bloomberg said.
Told that his administration recently enacted the policy, the mayor was Grinch-like.
“If they did in the past they shouldn’t have done it and we shouldn’t have accepted it,” Bloomberg said.
Richter said that over the years he’s delivered more than two tons of food to the homeless. He said Mayor Bloomberg is eating away at his ability to do good.
The ban on food donations was made by an inter-agency task force that includes the departments of Health and Homeless Services.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/19/bloomberg-strikes-again-nyc-bans-food-donations-to-the-homeless/
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Replies
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OH FFS.
That's like turning down toy donations because they are from the dollar store! 0 -
Just googled Cholent. Slow cooked stew made up of meat, barley, potatoes and beans....
Sodium............... really?0 -
I heard about that! What an awful thing to do. I suspect the food would be getting thrown out if it isn't donated!0
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Are you kidding me?
This is ridiculous.
All of this food is going to get thrown out and we can't give it to people who need it because we can't verify the salt, fiber, etc contents?
How freaking silly. I'm pretty sure the homeless don't care about those things - they are hungry!0 -
What the heck has our world come to............they do that in places with venison as well. won't let the hunters donate the meat to the shelters and such.......makes me sick! There are so many hungry people out there:sad:0
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That's ridiculous. I'm sure a lot of homeless people aren't watching their weight since food is not an everyday thing for them. How about Bloomberg getting them off the street rather than worrying about their diet and the healthiness of their donated food???0
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Absolutely daft. So, they'd rather the homeless died of starvation and ilnesses related to lack of nourishment, than risk (very low risk, I'd have thought, given the scarcity of food for the homeless) them having a too-high fat, sodium, fiber intake?! Madness.0
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That is so ridiculous. I think starving to death is worse for you than high salt content.0
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The whole thing just seems inhumane to me! Unbelievable..0
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I didn't read the whole article I just scanned it. BUT THAT IS TOTALLY MESSED UP.
Hello starving homeless man, sorry, you won't be eating today. Not because we don't have food. We do. But we can't assess their nutritional value. I'm sure you're getting most of your nutritional needs through your daily multi vitamin. Enjoy your day.0 -
Take a jar of that to a homeless guy, and I'll bet you the sodium content is the last thing on his mind. . . .
... matter of fact, when was the last time you saw a homeless person doing ANYTHING in a healthy fashion?!....
The mayor is an IDIOT!0 -
I'm sort of torn on this issue.
As an undergrad in college, I spent a year interning at a local homeless shelter. I saw the types of food/donations the shelter would typically get and I swear 95% of them were baked pastries (donuts, muffins, bagels) that were leftover from the local grocery stores. I'm not a fan of food going to waste and I think the stew being refused is ridiculous, but I also feel that the homeless should get some health standards as well and not just whatever people feel like "throwing out".
It's a hard balance to strike. I will say this may be an isolated experience with this particular neighborhood/shelter and that the local farmer's markets (run once or twice a week in this community) would also sometimes donate produce they had to get rid of or it would spoil in the next day or two.0 -
Take a jar of that to a homeless guy, and I'll bet you the sodium content is the last thing on his mind. . . .
... matter of fact, when was the last time you saw a homeless person doing ANYTHING in a healthy fashion?!....
I'm sorry, but as someone who worked with the homeless for nearly 2 years, I find this comment a bit short sighted.
Not all homeless people are addicts or alcoholics. There are also a LOT of people who are at or near the poverty line that depend on "homeless" shelters for resources such as access to food closets, etc, in order to make ends meet. Also, is your assumption that it is the addict's lifestyle that caused the homelessness or visa versa, if addiction is involved? In my experience, it's not easy to differentiate the two.
Just because people are poor and have no options, doesn't mean they don't have concerns about their health or have a right to have access to healthy food. Isn't this what we're always talking about here? How people complain about "healthy" foods being more expensive? Are the homeless and down and out any less deserving?0 -
"STUMPS?!?! You just thought, let's give them to the homeless, they'll eat ANYTHING."
"IF THE HOMELESS DON'T LIKE THEM, THE HOMELESS DON'T HAVE TO EAT THEM."0 -
My mother owns a bakery and she makes donations of donuts, cookies, and bread on a daily basis to our local homeless shelter and she has never been turned down. I think we can all agree that eating a donut is better than eating nothing at all.0
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"The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."0
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If you're unsure of the content of food, there are websites that can "analyze" your recipe for the nutritional value. It would only be an estimate. But otherwise, this is only another way of controlling something that should not be under such control when there are so many in need. A little something can go a long way in more ways than nutrition. This is just plain ridiculous.0
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I honestly don't know what to think or say anymore!0
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That's outrageous.0
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Government at it's worst :grumble:0
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IF you are hungry all the time, it doesnt matter what you eat, you're not eating enough! What a waste.0
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It makes perfect sense if you take into account the source of the ban, otherwise chaos would prevail and actual critical thinking would be needed.0
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I think its a great idea.
It should really help cut down the homeless population.0 -
in defense of bloomberg, although i don't know the real motives, maybe he's trying to prevent people from POISONING the homeless? it could happen.... I suppose...0
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This is one of the worst examples of nutrionism to the exclusion of health that I have ever seen. Ugh. Disgusting.0
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I figured it out:
“My father lived to 97; my grandfather lived to 97, "
It's clearly a conspiracy to make sure all the homeless die by 97. We can't have that.
No, seriously though, that's just sick. If they at least had the brains to say, "We can't be sure it comes from some place safe" or "We don't know the sanitation rating of the place it came from" then maybe. But no, it's about the salt, fat, and fiber intake? Really?
*headdesk*0 -
in defense of bloomberg, although i don't know the real motives, maybe he's trying to prevent people from POISONING the homeless? it could happen.... I suppose...
Then why not at least say that? Or at least *pretend* that's what it's about? He doesn't even pretend. *forehead smack*0 -
Omg this is ridiculous. My friend worked at a bagel place and I used to pick her up at the end of the day and they would thorw away.garbage bags FILLED with food. I asked why they don't donate it and its actually against some health code or something. I know panera donates their extra food at the end of the day.0
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I think its a great idea.
It should really help cut down the homeless population.
LOL. You're awesomely terrible.0
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