Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

In New York City, you can no longer donate food to city homeless shelters if it doesn’t have a nutritional information label. Why? In part because your donation might be too salty. No kidding:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made it impossible for Good Samaritans to donate food to government-run facilities that feed the homeless.

For what reason would he restrict free and charitable donations?

Well, you’re probably familiar with the mayor’s crusade against salt — apparently, it’s bad for you and the government should regulate how much is in your food.

Therefore, in an effort to curb the citizenry’s dirty salt habits, the Bloomberg administration has instructed all government-run shelters to turn away any donated food items that lack specific nutritional information.

Basically, the city is dissuading private citizens from being charitable.

What’s next? A ban on private donations to Toys for Tots because of the potential threat of sharp edges and small parts?

If you want to make a bunch of sandwiches in your kitchen or buy bulk food to donate to the homeless, forget it. You might have gone crazy on the salt and butter, and Bloomberg wants to make sure NY homeless are as healthy as possible when he ships them off to other cities.

Also, this from the New York Post:

Diamond insists that the institutional vendors hired by the shelters serve food that meets the rules but also tastes good; it just isn’t too salty. So, says the commissioner, the homeless really don’t need any of the synagogue’s food.

In other words, “the government has it handled, we don’t need private institutions involved.” If only bureaucrats would ever say “the private sector has it handled, we don’t need the government involved.”

Here’s a local news segment from CBS2:

**Written by Doug Powers

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