Texas officials said a power outage and a social media post led to 250 people fighting over “free food” in a grocery store dumpster.
One HEB Grocery Store The company told CBS Austin in a statement that the southeast side of Austin experienced a “sustained power outage” and had to throw out large amounts of perishable food on Thursday, February 2.
someone found food in a grocery store trash can and posted about the “free food” on social media, Travis County Constable Jorge Morales III said in a Facebook post.
Morales said more than 250 people stormed the grocery store and began fighting over discarded food in dumpsters. Video from the scene was shown people in the dustbin Grabbing food and throwing it into waiting carts.
Another video shared on Facebook showed a a lot of trash People are throwing things back and forth.
Morales said the chaos led to gridlock in the streets near the grocery store. People’s representatives and police officers who reached the spot vacated the area.
“It’s not a free lunch,” Morales said. “The food is rotten and spoiled, and unsafe to eat.”
“The store was unable to keep some perishable foods at the proper temperature,” Heb told CBS Austin. To comply with strict food quality and safety standards, we are required to dispose of some perishable foods. , when they are not properly temperature controlled, which also prevents us from donating items to food pantries and food banks.
HEB did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
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