Fred Meyer grocery store responds to criticism of Oregon cops guarding discarded food

Fred Meyer is responding to criticism of police officers apparently guarding discarded food at an Oregon store.

Critics accused the grocery store chain and Portland police of blocking people from accessing piles of food in a dumpsters after a power outage in the area Tuesday.

Activist Morgan Mckniff told The Oregonian that employees had guarded the food before officers arrived.

“After that, other people started showing up and asking them, ‘Why are you guys guarding a dumpster?’” Mckniff told the newspaper.

Juniper Simonis, another activist, later arrived and took photos of the food after police left the store. Images captured piles of meat, juice and cheese.

On Wednesday, Fred Meyer tweeted the food was no longer safe for donation to local agencies after the power outage and employees worried the products would sicken residents.

“They engaged local law enforcement out of an abundance of caution. We apologize for the confusion,” Fred Meyer said. “Fred Meyer donates 5.5 million pounds of safe, nutritious surplus food to our food bank partners and communities every year. We are engaging our store teams with this important reminder of our established processes in situations like this.”

Portland police released a statement Wednesday accusing a crowd of harassing employees who discarded the food. An employee reported fear of a “physical confrontation” and called officers for help a second time after they weren’t available to respond initially, police say.

As the crowd grew to an estimated 50 people, police say they sent eight officers and three trainees to the scene.

“As it was private property, the officers asked the group to leave store property or risk potential arrest for trespassing. People in the crowd slowly moved away,” police said. “Officers’ interest in this call was to preserve peace, prevent violence, and restore order.”