NEWS

Marshfield food pantry forced to throw away 900 pounds of meat because no USDA inspection

Jackie Rehwald
JREHWALD@NEWS-LEADER.COM

The Webster County Food Pantry serves about 225 needy families every month. But the next time those families visit, they might be leaving without any hamburger meat.

After being visited by two USDA inspectors on Friday, the food pantry was forced to throw away 905 pounds of frozen hamburger meat.

According to pantry director Jerry Nehl, nothing was wrong with the meat other than it had been processed at a plant that wasn't federally certified. It was processed at the state-certified Gibson's Packing Company in Seymour.

Nehl, who has been with the food pantry for 24 years, said no one at the plant knew about the federal regulations regarding meat donated to food pantries.

Nehl said farmers often have injured or extra animals to donate. The food pantry just has to pay the processing fee. And in this case, that is how the USDA got involved.

USDA inspectors were at Gibson's last week and noted that the Webster County Food Pantry paid for processing of some meat. The two inspectors then drove over to inspect the food pantry, found the frozen hamburger meat and instructed workers to throw it out.

"The federal law is going to have to change," Nehl said. "If you have an animal with a bad foot and can't walk into the trailer to get to the federally inspected plant, it is going to have to go to dog meat or be buried.

"That (905 pounds) would have been enough meat for all 225 families," he said.

Springfield-based Ozarks Food Harvest, a southwest Missouri food bank, serves more than 200 hunger-relief organizations across 28 Ozarks counties.

The Webster County Food Pantry is not affiliated with Ozarks Food Harvest.

Ozarks Food Harvest communication coordinator Christine Temple said the USDA rule is in place for safety.

"It's the idea that we want any food someone receives at one of our pantries could be the same quality as if they went into a grocery store and purchased food," Temple said. "Any meat that you are going to purchase is going to be USDA inspected.

"If it's not inspected by them, there is not consistent regulations," Temple said. "So we couldn't be confident the food would be safe."

Nehl said he plans to push lawmakers to change the law when it comes to food pantries. He plans to start with Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, who will be in town Tuesday.

An attempt to speak to someone with the USDA was not successful on MOnday.