A TikToker in Albuquerque, New Mexico went viral with a video revealing where the chicken nuggets go at the end of the night at a Chick-fil-A fast-food restaurant.
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Apparently, they go straight into the garbage, and that has some people upset that they’re not going to less fortunate people…or, for some commenters, that they’re not finding their way directly to them somehow.
While it’s not the first time food being thrown away has gone viral on TikTok—you might remember the Dunkin’ video brouhaha over donuts thrown in the trash earlier this year—it’s opening up the same questions about wastefulness and how our society lets people go hungry.
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The video itself, which has attracted more than 7.7 million views since going up on the platform, is short and simple: It shows a Chick-fil-A worker—with Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” playing in the background, which corporate might frown upon—taking a metal container full of nuggets and throwing them in the trash, along with the caption, “What they do every night with the chicken nuggets at Chick-fil-a.”
As one commenter pointed out, there are likely food safety concerns about not just putting them out on the doorstep with a sign that says, “Free Nuggets.”
“Chicken that sits too long cannot be given out to the homeless hours later,” that person observed. “It will get them sick,” adding, with a nod to the Dunkin’ controversy, “It’s not a doughnut.”
But others felt that the TikTok video was uncovering a grave injustice. “The amount of food we throw away and the amount of starving people there are just doesn’t sit right with me,” said one, punctuating the observation with, “It’s sad.”
In the Daily Dot’s coverage of the TikTok, reporter Jennifer Xia revealed that there are some protections out there for restaurants like TikTok that might want to find hungry people to enjoy their unsold food. “The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act … reportedly protects companies and organizations from donating food to nonprofit organizations,” Xia wrote, referring to a USDA FAQ that gives guidelines to how restaurants, grocers, and other donors might be covered by the law.
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“In an effort to reduce food waste,” Xia went on to report, “Chick-fil-A created its Shared Table program in 2012, which donates surplus food to local soup kitchens, shelters, and nonprofits. Employees package surplus food, which partnering organizations then pick up. Across Canada and the U.S., there are reportedly more than 1,300 participating Chick-fil-A restaurants in the Shared Table program. But a 2013 survey by the Food Waste Reduction Alliance found that only 1.4% of food waste is donated by restaurants.”
*First Published: June 18, 2021, 9:12 am
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