According to a November 9th report by KCTV out of Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas City Health Department threw away and poured bleach on food meant for the city’s homeless population. The brash action was done in order to stop “Free Hot Soup,” an organization that brings food to the homeless of Kansas City, whom the health department said was serving improperly prepared food without a permit.
The health department reportedly stepped in to stop Free Hot Soup at three different locations on Sunday, November 4th. Health department officials dumped out soup, threw away foil-wrapped sandwiches, and poured bleach on trashed food items to prevent the homeless from eating.
“E. coli or salmonella or listeria can grow in the food,” department director Rex Archer said to local station Fox 32. “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.”
Free Hot Soup volunteer Jennifer McCartney told KCTV of the health department, “We’ve always had a mutual respect… We don’t know what happened. It’s ridiculous. We’ve never had this issue ever.”
Kansas City Mayor, Sly James, tweeted out support for the health department’s action, stating, “Rules are there to protect the public’s health, and all groups must follow them, no exceptions.”
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. https://t.co/WaIo0QMI98
— Sly James (Former Mayor) (@MayorSlyJames) November 5, 2018
The health department stated that throwing away and contaminating food served to the public without a permit is common practice. They provided a list of organizations who hold permits to serve food to the public via Twitter.
Furthermore, the health department added that they’ve notified Free Hot Soup about permitting requirements before and the group has not yet complied.
Below is KCHD’s statement regarding the group “Free Hot Soup Kansas City” serving food to the general public. pic.twitter.com/ZewLlXzi4M
— KCMO Health Dept (@KCMOHealthDept) November 5, 2018
McCartney told KCTV that she and other volunteers continued to serve the food they had left after the raid. According to Fox 32, the group will continue to operate but do so on private grounds.
It seems as though there must be a less-extreme way of dealing with this issue.
