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United Nations says it mistakenly sent expired biscuits to Syrians

Good Lord! I hope they didn't eat 'em. They could die from food poisoning before they get their heads cut off, or shot or sumthin. Now that right there really sucks. Where's Obama on this? He's a UN kind of guy. Let's get these folks some biscuits. I know, I know. It was a mistake. They meant to send them to Israel. Ah well. You can't get everything right all the time.
 
SlevinKelevra said:
UN says it mistakenly sent expired biscuits to Syrians - NY Daily News
:shock:


Do these things really go bad? Or is it more like a "best by" date?

The article also says

which would point to the former, I suppose.... but

some possibly bad food is better than starving to death?
tough choices. :doh
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The article starts out talking about biscuits and ends with polio. That says something about whether this is a valid issue (it isn't). They had to have something to end the article with so they call forward polio victims. We had MRE's that would go out of date. They would take a sample of the MREs to the vet on post and they would test the samples for contamination. If they found all of the samples good they would put a new expiration date on the MREs. The article states that there was no risk of getting sick. I wonder why they are taking it so serious. Retest and pass them out. At least they aren't raping the refugees like they have in the past. It seems they would have shown this kind of concern about that situation.
 
brothern said:
Hardly a tough choice, I think. That's because giving food is bad. It's bad in relief type situations, and it's bad in the United States when you're giving to food pantries!

1) It expires.
2) It's expensive, because of transportation and the aforementioned spoilage costs.
3) It's usually not what people need or want to eat. (Sugary, salty, junky, poor-quality food.)
4) For food pantries in the USA, they usually have the ability to buy food a wholesale prices rather than your ability to only buy at retail prices.

So give cash. Always give cash. Both for relief and to local food pantries.
Click to expand...

I don't want to have to be the one moving cash around an environment like that. The risks for handling cash is huge. It also seems to disappear into the wrong pockets.
 
polgara said:
Greetings, CJ. :2wave:

I've made thousands of biscuits in my life, and the worse thing that can happen is they can get hard as a rock in a few days and crumble apart if they are not hardtack. However, soldiers during the Civil War considered hardtack a staple in their diet, and cowboys on old-time cattle drives routinely ate those type of biscuits because they are edible forever. They didn't have much nutritional value, since hardtack is just a combination of flour, water, salt and baking powder but dunking them in coffee or some other liquid softened them up enough to eat.

I make the more usual kind of biscuits all the time, which are about three inches tall, using milk and shortening. My kids growing up looked forward to biscuits and white gravy with tiny bits of fried sausage patties in it for breakfast on Sunday - they crumpled their biscuits in the gravy - and they're still all alive and ornery - I haven't killed anyone yet! :mrgreen: As a matter of fact, when I visit them in Texas, that's one of the first things they ask me to make, and the word goes out, and the whole gang shows up on Sunday morning to eat, some even driving from other cities. Very nice, since I love to cook!

I don't know what was sent to the Syrians, but it should not have harmed anyone.
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Good morning Lady P - hope all is well with you,

The biscuits you describe would be what I and others from a more British cultural background may call scones. When I think about biscuits, I think of a kind of combination cracker/cookie, like a Digestive that babies often eat. I also remember my mother, bride from WWII, who used to like those hardtack biscuits with tea - they'd crack a tooth dry!! - but I don't remember them ever going bad.

Your biscuits are more a part of a meal while I think of biscuits as a snack. I'm assuming the biscuits sent by the UN are the kind I'm thinking of, manufactured and prepackaged in boxes or sealed bags. If they're getting your type of biscuit, they're getting pretty good treatment.
 
the biscuits are perfectly safe to eat after a month, that is not the issue

this is what they are made of

wfp194549.jpg


High Energy Biscuits (HEBs)

What are they?
Wheat-based biscuits which provide 450kcal with a minimum of 10 grams and max of 15 grams of protein per 100 grams, fortified in vitamin and minerals.

When and where are they used?
In the first days of emergency when cooking facilities are scarce. Easy to distribute and provide a quick solution to improve the level of nutrition.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour, Hydrogenate Vegetable Shortening, Sugar, Soy flour, Invert Syrup, High fructose, Corn Syrup, Skimmed milk powder, Sodium and Ammonium, Bicarbonates, Salt, Minerals and vitamins as : Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Iodine, Folic Acid, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B1, B2,B6,B12b C,D,E, Niacine, Vitamin A-retinol.

Nutritional value per 100g:
Energy 450Kcal
Protein 10 to 15g
Fat 15 g
Price $0.12 per 100g packet
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https://www.wfp.org/nutrition/special-nutritional-products
 
NonoBadDog said:
I don't want to have to be the one moving cash around an environment like that. The risks for handling cash is huge. It also seems to disappear into the wrong pockets.
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And if there is no food in the area the hungry will be happier eating the crackers starving with cash.
 
joG said:
So what was the hubbub about? Why did the UN make a little spectacle out of it?
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th UN just announced this because people were worried about the expirations, and that they will try to convince the syrian government to let aid workers back in to give them more food since many people might have thrown them away
 
dimensionallava said:
th UN just announced this because people were worried about the expirations, and that they will try to convince the syrian government to let aid workers back in to give them more food since many people might have thrown them away
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If people throw away their cookies. because they are a month over the date, they aren't hungry.
 
joG said:
If people throw away their cookies. because they are a month over the date, they aren't hungry.
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Exactly, those ****ers can go **** themselves.

Starve. Die. Repent until you're on your knees for having disrespected our aid in such a manner and maybe we can give aid once again.
 
Luftwaffe said:
Exactly, those ****ers can go **** themselves.

Starve. Die. Repent until you're on your knees for having disrespected our aid in such a manner and maybe we can give aid once again.
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Of course, they aren't doing that. They are rejuvenating Germany. ;)
 
NonoBadDog said:
I don't want to have to be the one moving cash around an environment like that. The risks for handling cash is huge. It also seems to disappear into the wrong pockets.
Click to expand...
Lol, they don't distribute cash aid like that. They hand out ATM cards with a PIN (rec'd via text, e.g.), or use mobile payments.

Even in the poorest nations on Earth, cellphone ownership is 70-80%. Mobile banking, commerce is used far more in the developing world than the USA.
 
brothern said:
Lol, they don't distribute cash aid like that. They hand out ATM cards with a PIN (rec'd via text, e.g.), or use mobile payments.

Even in the poorest nations on Earth, cellphone ownership is 70-80%. Mobile banking, commerce is used far more in the developing world than the USA.
Click to expand...

Yeah because stop and shop ships to the middle of a warzone :roll:
 
brothern said:
Lol, they don't distribute cash aid like that. They hand out ATM cards with a PIN (rec'd via text, e.g.), or use mobile payments.

Even in the poorest nations on Earth, cellphone ownership is 70-80%. Mobile banking, commerce is used far more in the developing world than the USA.
Click to expand...

The risk of the above still exists in that environment with ATM cards, does it not?
 
brothern said:
Yes, they do. This is literally how UNHCR does it.
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I guess they didn't do it here for some reason. Maybe you should try to get a job as an adviser.
 
polgara said:
Greetings, CJ. :2wave:

I've made thousands of biscuits in my life, and the worse thing that can happen is they can get hard as a rock in a few days and crumble apart if they are not hardtack. However, soldiers during the Civil War considered hardtack a staple in their diet, and cowboys on old-time cattle drives routinely ate those type of biscuits because they are edible forever. They didn't have much nutritional value, since hardtack is just a combination of flour, water, salt and baking powder but dunking them in coffee or some other liquid softened them up enough to eat.

I make the more usual kind of biscuits all the time, which are about three inches tall, using milk and shortening. My kids growing up looked forward to biscuits and white gravy with tiny bits of fried sausage patties in it for breakfast on Sunday - they crumpled their biscuits in the gravy - and they're still all alive and ornery - I haven't killed anyone yet! :mrgreen: As a matter of fact, when I visit them in Texas, that's one of the first things they ask me to make, and the word goes out, and the whole gang shows up on Sunday morning to eat, some even driving from other cities. Very nice, since I love to cook!

I don't know what was sent to the Syrians, but it should not have harmed anyone.
Click to expand...

I want to come to your house. :D
 
joG said:
If people throw away their cookies. because they are a month over the date, they aren't hungry.
Click to expand...

I dont think these are distributed during actual famines, this is for emergency response, how hungry would you have to be before you started eating the expired food on your shelves?
 
dimensionallava said:
I dont think these are distributed during actual famines, this is for emergency response, how hungry would you have to be before you started eating the expired food on your shelves?
Click to expand...

Not very. I do so from time to time, though, the shop is a 3 minutes walk. That is why I am pretty sure that cookies a month over expiration are fine.
 
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