US: In early September, as military helicopters rescued New Orleans residents from rooftops and Red Cross shelters swelled with the displaced, nearly 400,000 packaged meals landed on a tarmac at Little Rock Air Force Base and were taken to Louisiana.
But most of the $5.3 million (€4.4 million) of food never reached Hurricane Katrina's victims. Instead, due to fears about mad cow disease and a long-standing ban on British beef, the rations routinely eaten by British soldiers have sat in an Arkansas warehouse for more than a month.
Now, with some food set to expire in early 2006 and US taxpayers spending $16,000 a month to store the meals, the State Department is looking for a needy country to take them.
A spokesman for the British embassy was puzzled by the turn of events. "There was a specific request for emergency ration packs, and we responded to that," he said.
What is clear is that by late on September 8th, inspectors from the Agriculture Department halted distribution because the packaged meals violated import laws that "no beef or poultry of any kind is accepted from Great Britain," spokeswoman Terri Teuber said.
The first packs left Brize Norton airbase in Oxfordshire, England, early September 5th Their dispatch cost $4.7 million.
On September 6th, USDA officials learned that "food donations may be coming that needed inspection", Teuber said. But confirmation did not reach them until September 8th, three days after the first shipment arrived.
As the rations rode to New Orleans, USDA inspectors literally chased the delivery trucks. They turned the trucks around for the return trip to Arkansas, where they remain.
State Department officials have considered sending the food to Guatemala, which was devastated by mudslides. - (LA Times-Washington Post Service)