Police: Fred Meyer employees harassed by crowd while throwing out spoiled food

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    Portland, Oregon (KPTV) — Portland police say a crowd of people harassed Fred Meyer employees who were throwing out food that went bad due to a power outage in the Hollywood District on Tuesday.

At about 4 p.m., a call came in from the Fred Meyer, located at 3030 Northeast Weidler Street. Police said it was reported that a group of people were arguing with employees and refusing to leave the property. The power was out and employees were throwing out spoiled food.

According to police, no officers were available to respond at the time. Then at 4:17 p.m., an employee called back because they felt the situation was escalating.

Officers arrived to the scene and learned from a store representative that employees were throwing away food that was “unfit for consumption or donation” due to the lack of refrigeration caused by the power outage, according to police.

Officers tried to explain that to the crowd, but police said no one in the crowd was “willing to have an open dialogue with officers and continued to shout insults at them and store employees.”

Police said officers asked the crowd to leave store property or risk potential arrest for trespassing. People in the crowd slowly moved away.

About 50 people were in the crowd, according to police.

Police said officers left the scene once they believed both parties were separated and there was no longer any threat of harm.

After officers left, police said employees called again to report the crowd moved back onto store property and were confronting employees again. Employees reported that people in the crowd were making threatening statements.

Police supervisors decided that unless there was an imminent threat to life or threat of serious injury, officers would remain away, according to police.

Officers did not return to the store, police said.

No arrests or citations were issued.

FOX 12 reached out to Fred Meyer for comment about getting rid of the food.

A Fred Meyer spokesperson sent the following statement:
“We appreciate people speaking out against hunger. We get it, throwing away food is never a good thing. Unfortunately, some perishable food that requires refrigeration at our Hollywood store was out of temperature for a protracted period of time. This was due to a weather-related power outage and it is not safe for consumption. Out an abundance of caution, we are disposing of the product to keep people safe. We engaged law enforcement, as the safety of our associates and customers is always our top priority.

At Fred Meyer, preventing food waste is part of our Zero Hunger / Zero Waste social impact plan, in which our goal is to reduce food waste and end hunger in the communities that we call home. Each year Fred Meyer donates over 5,500,000 meals of food that is safe for consumption to local food banks, like Oregon Food Bank, Sunshine Division, and others, to help the hungry people of our community.”

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