Calif. food banks caught in controversy

SANTA ANA, Calif., March 24 (UPI) -- California food bank officials who once petitioned for donations of expired food are under fire after photographs showed such donations rotting in the desert.

While officials from the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County had asked for the donations rather than allowing the food to rot in landfills, recent photos revealed that some ultimately found its way to the Mojave Desert nonetheless, the Orange County (Calif.) Register said.

Officials said the discovery is actually common practice for the food bank and that the supplies are actually part of their usual donations to an area pig farmer.

"The reason we have been doing that is to avoid throwing food away in landfills and wasting non-consumable food," Second Harvest's Monica Horner said.

The food bank has helped provide the hungry, apparently including pigs, with 217 million pounds of food in its history.

The officials told the Register that unbeknownst to them, the farmer had left the food supplies behind to rot after relocating to a new farm.

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