Stimulus Has Millions In Spending On Actual Pork, Ham

Millions of dollars for pork. No, we mean actual pork. The NY Post reports today that the government is going on a stimulus spending "deli run," with millions set aside to fill the nation's emergency food banks with pork and ham.

To be fair, the items are set to be sent to state food banks and soup kitchens. Still, the prices are a bit staggering. The NYPost reports that this amount includes: "$17 million on canned pork, $1.2 million for 380,000 hams, and $2.5 million for frozen ham."

The non-metaphorical pork expenditures has caused a a bit of confusion in the blogosphere. As MediaMatters pointed out the conservative blogs RedState and Hot Air's Green Room followed a report by Drudge that featured some very fuzzy math. Each web site claimed the government had spent $1 million on two pounds of ham. Let's just say their calculations were a little bit off. Here's Hot Air's apologia:

"Apparently the ham contract didn't pay for two pounds of ham, but 760,000 pounds of it. Where "two pounds" comes from is anybody's guess, but that incident paired with all of the other ones raise some real questions about management and usefulness of the Administration's multi-million dollar watchdog website. Not that anyone should be surprised."

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Comments

[JaneQCitizen]

And the Cattleman's Association will complain that they didn't buy any beef in 3, 2 ...

[jeffp26]

As a vegetarian I think giving ham and beef to poor people is mass murder.

[rcthomp]

Yes, instead lets send the poor people Tofurky- cause we all know how good that tastes.

[epic rsm]

lame.

[Coltrane1234]

I don't think they'll complain.

[Cynara89]

"Through the Recovery Act, the U.S.D.A has made $100 million available to the states for The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which acquires food that is distributed to local organizations that assist the needy – including food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens.

The Recovery Act funds referenced in press reports allowed states to purchase ham, cheese and dairy products for these food banks, soup kitchens and food pantries that provide assistance to people who otherwise do not have access to food. This program will help reduce hunger of those hardest hit by the current economic recession.

The references to "2 pound frozen ham sliced" are to the sizes of the packaging. Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.191 million to buy "2 pounds of ham" are wrong. In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191 million, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound. In terms of the dairy purchase referenced, USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) purchased 837,936 pounds of mozzarella cheese and 4,039,200 pounds of processed cheese. The canned pork purchase was 8,424,000 pounds at a cost of $16,784,000, or approximately $1.99 per pound.

While the principal purpose of these expenditures is to provide food to those hardest hit by these tough times, the purchases also provide a modest economic benefit of benefiting Americans working at food retailers, manufacturers and transportation companies as well as the farmers and ranchers who produce our food supply."

[jozzie]

Is this The Onion?

[jeffp26]

Jozzie,

No. The Onion prints stories like this about 3 weeks before the mainstream media finds out.

Seriously.

[motherfather]

Owned by the Chinese gov't. As with all things good in America.

[Tom95134]

Ham & pork. Mmmm, I guess they assumed that there would not be any Jewish or Islamic members of the population that would make use of food banks or soup kitchens.

[aj88]

Well, the republicans were screaming the stimulus bill was filled with pork, who knew we were suppose to take them literally!

[mcmutter]

There are many big a$$ SUVs lined up at those food banks to get food for the kiddies. Check it out sometime.

[indy100]

And they're probably filled with Republicans........

[sarabono]

Food Lion has been selling the exact same ham in my area for .79 cents per pound. This was on my local news last night.

So, the Federal Gov. knows best how to spend taxpayers money ? It seem to me that one big area of Federal waste is all the paperwork required to meet Federal Procurement Rules. Sure I can see some increased costs in Federal Procurement but 114% over the cost for the same item which can be purchased all day at your local Food Lion ?

That is the definition of of a Federal Procurement Process out of control !

[roald]

$.79 has to be either
- the lowest grade of waste food legal to sell
- including bones
- about to go bad
- a loss leader

I can't really see Obama pulling up to the local Food Lion and ordering a few tons from the deli.

I looked at a random Food Lion circular and found Fresh Deli Virginia or Honey Ham at $3.99/pound.

[nodonjuan]

It's probably rotten ham. Look what they do with chicken.......

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2009/07/letter-to-editor-about-food-lion.html

[JPFranklin]

Oh no! The government is buying food for food banks so starving people can eat? This is a travesty! How dare they spend tax dollars on preventing children from starving to death.

Only the Post would write a stupid story like this. I hope Rupert Murdoch starves.

[JuliusR]

Hold on! The Gov. paid $1.70 per pound and Sweetbay pays .75 per pound. So much for the economy of scale. Reminds me of $800 toilet seats and $150 hammers.

[classicalgeek]

I believe that's an average cost. Some places are higher. Here you can't buy ham for anything close to $1.70 a pound. Perhaps some food banks are located in or near more expensive cities.

Hmm, I wonder if this also includes the delivery to food to the food banks? If so, that's even more reasonable.

However, I think that it's irresponsible for HP to pick up this story. I know we all need a laugh from time to time, but to make light of starving families is horrible.

[JPFranklin]

They also paid "$1.2 million for 380,000 hams", that's $3.15 A HAM. Have you ever, ever seen an entire ham for 3 bucks? Don't cherry pick the numbers.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

For lunchmeat sliced ham? And they are jacking the prices up to $5 a pound. What a racket.