A New Mexico landfill is all the richer thanks to Costco’s refusal to donate safe and edible peanut butter to the poor. The amount of peanut butter dumped totals approximately one million jars of the protein rich food. The estimated value of the corporate maneuver involves between $26 and $28 million worth of this nutritious foodstuff.
The peanut butter, that had be determined safe to eat, did not fit into the corporate decisions that involved the bankruptcy of Sunland Foods, the company that manufactured the peanut butter.
The trustee of this bankruptcy tactic, Clarke Coll indicated that they had made every effort to convince Costco to donate the food, but Costco refused every suggestion. The monolithic wholesaler refused to accept the shipment of the Sunland product and demanding the food be dumped in a landfill rather than allowing it to be given to a food bank or even selling to agents that provide food to institutions.
Bankruptcy trustee Clarke Coll said he had no other choice after Costco Wholesale refused to take shipment of the Sunland Inc. product and declined requests to let it be donated to food banks or repackaged or sold to brokers who provide food to organizations like schools or prisons.
The executive director of the Food Bank of Eastern New Mexico, Melinda Joy Pattison, was appalled by the decision by the mega corporation to dump the food. “Those trucks carrying it to the dump went right by the front door of my food bank,” she said. “It wasn’t like it would have been out of the way.”
The director involved in fighting hunger said that peanut butter is a key source of protein and is used extensively by her food bank to help provide nutrition the children of the area who need it.
Costco had been warehousing the peanut butter since last fall and the finalizing move of Sunland’s bankruptcy may have been the stimulus for Costco to dump the food. Attempts to reach execs at Costco have failed as the company appears to be unwilling to defend their bizarre action.
Edited/Published by: SB
