Food portions that could feed 3.5 million people within a month are rotting in warehouses around the world due to US aid cuts and are in danger of becoming useless, according to five persons who know the situation, citing an exclusive report.

Food stocks have been kept in four US government warehouses since the Trump government decided in January to discontinue global relief programs, according to three persons who previously worked at the US International Development Service and with two persons from help organizations.

Some of these foods are likely to end in July and are likely to be destroyed, either with incineration, being used as feeds or rejected in other ways, they said two of the sources.

Warehouses managed by the USA’s Humanitarian Aid Department (BHA) (USAID) contain between 60,000 to 66,000 metric tons of food who have supplied US farmers and manufacturers, according to these five persons.

An unknown census list for warehouses located in Djibouti, South Africa, Dubai and Houston reports that warehouses contain more than 66,000 tonnes of products, Among them high energy cookies, vegetable oils and reinforced cereals.

These commissions are estimated to have more than $ 98 million, according to a document examined by Reuters, which was shared by a humanitarian official and confirmed as an up -to -date US government source.

These quantities could feed more than a million people for three months or the entire Gaza population for 1.5 months, according to Reuters analysis using data from the global food program, the largest humanitarian organization in the world.

This United Nations service says that a ton of food-usually includes cereals, legumes and oil-can meet the daily nutritional needs of almost 1,660 people.

The closure of USAID and cuts in humanitarian aid costs by Donald Trump have taken place as global levels of hunger are increasing due to conflict and climate change, which push more people to poverty by deprecating decades of progress.

According to the global food program, 343 million people face very high levels of food insecurity worldwide.

Of these, 1.9 million people are plagued by catastrophic hunger and are on the brink of famine. Most of them are in Gaza and Sudan, but also in pockets of South Sudan, Haiti and Mali.

A State Department spokesman, who oversees USAID, said in response to detailed questions about food stocks that the service is working to ensure the seamless continuation of the relief programs and their transfer until July as part of the USAID abolition process.

Some preliminals will be destroyed

Although the Trump government has excluded some humanitarian programs-including those in Gaza and Sudan-the cancellation of contracts and the freezing of the resources needed to pay for suppliers, carriers and contractors, have resulted in the abandonment of four warehouses.

A proposal to deliver stocks to relief organizations that can distribute them has been “frozen”, according to the US source and with two former USAID sources they know about the proposal.

The service is led by Jeremy Luuin, a 28 -year -old former employee of the Ilon Mask’s government efficiency service, who is tasked with dismantling USAID.

Nearly 500 tonnes of high -energy biscuits stored in Dubai are due to end in July, according to a former USAID official and a humanitarian official who knows the census minutes of the warehouse.

Biscuits can feed at least 27,000 malnourished children per month, according to Reuters.

Biscuits are now likely to be destroyed or converted into animal feed, according to a former USAID official, who adds that in only one year only about 20 tonnes of food can be destroyed in this way due to disaster during transport or storage.

The quantities of these foods were previously intended for Gaza and for Sudan, plagued by starvation, the former official added.

The State Department spokesman did not immediately answer questions about the quantities of food stored and are at risk of exploring whether they will be destroyed.

USAID plans to dismiss almost all its staff in two phases-July 1 and September 2-as it prepares to close, according to a notice submitted to Congress in March.

The two former USAID sources have said that many of the necessary employees needed to manage the warehouses or transfer supplies will leave in July.

Dying kids

The United States is the largest donor of humanitarian aid in the world, accounting for at least 38% of all the contributions recorded by the United Nations. Last year, they allocated $ 61 billion to abroad, a little more than half over the USAID, according to government data.

US food aid includes ready -to -use therapeutic foods (RUTF) such as high -energy cookies and plumpy’nut, a pistachio -based paste.

Navin Salem, founder of Edesia, an American Plumpy’nut production company, said that the expiry of USAID contracts has created accumulation of huge quantities forcing the company to rent an additional warehouse to store its own production.

The stock that emerged from this development is $ 5,000 and worth $ 13 million, and could feed more than 484,000 children, she said.

UNICEF, the UN Children’s Service, warned in late March that RUTF reserves are exhausted in 17 countries due to funding cuts, possibly forcing 2.4 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition to stay without these critical supplies for the rest of the year.

Action Against Hunger, a non -profit organization based in the United States for more than 30% of its world budget, said last month that US cuts have already led to the deaths of at least six children involved in its programs in the Congo People’s Republic.

Cuts cause chaos

The Humanitarian Affairs Office, which coordinates the efforts of the US government abroad, sank into chaos by Trump’s cuts, five sources said.

The office staff were among thousands of USAID employees who were put on administrative permit pending their dismissals.

Three sources told Reuters that the USAID warehousing contract in South Africa’s Limani Derban was canceled, raising questions about the future distribution of help. Reuters was unable to confirm it in an independent manner.

Two former USAID officials said the facilities in Djibouti and Dubai will be delivered to a State Department team, which has not yet been set up. The State Department did not comment. A WFP spokesman, which is largely based on US funding, refused to comment on food stocks.

Asked if there are discussions about their release, the spokesman said: “We are particularly appreciating the support of all our donors, including the US, and we will continue to work with partners to support the needs of the most vulnerable who has an urgent need for help.”