Emergency Food Assistance: USAID Stored Over $18 Million of Food in Houston Warehouses, but Deficiencies in Storage and Inventory Conditions May Increase Risk of Waste

Why We Did This InspectionUSAID stored millions of dollars in food aid and emergency non-food items in warehouses around the world as part of its responsibility to lead and coordinate the U.S. government’s disaster assistance efforts overseas. The food aid included shelf-stable items to prevent and treat malnutrition and to rapidly address crises around the world. According to USAID, the prepositioned warehouses decreased the amount of time it took to deliver food aid by an average of 3 months. On January 20, 2025, the administration initiated a pause and review of all U.S. foreign assistance, including USAID programs. On March 28, 2025, the Department of State announced that USAID would cease operating as an independent agency. As of July 1, 2025, USAID food assistance programs transferred to the Department of State.We conducted inspections of USAID warehouses storing food aid in three locations: Durban, South Africa; Djibouti City, Djibouti; and Houston, Texas to determine the status of food aid remaining. For this inspection of the Houston warehouses, we examined the (1) characteristics of food aid in the warehouses and (2) food aid storage and inventory conditions. We inspected food aid stored as of June 13, 2025. What We FoundUSAID stored over $18.8 million of food aid in its Houston warehouses, and all inventory with upcoming best-used-by dates had been allocated for shipment. Specifically, when we inspected the three warehouses in June 2025, USAID had allocated more than $3.4 million (18 percent) of the total inventory for shipment. The remaining $15.4 million in food aid had not been assigned for shipment to a specific country, and all had time remaining before reaching the best used-by date. By mid-September 2025, the remaining food aid had been allocated for shipment.USAID did not fully enforce food aid storage and inventory requirements. Specifically, during our June 2025 inspection, we observed pest activity, irregularities in storage and warehouse conditions, and infrequent warehouse and commodity inspections. These deviations from requirements may compromise the safety and quality of food aid and increase the risk of its damage or waste. In addition, there were discrepancies between the inventory in the warehouses and USAID’s inventory report that may have limited the Agency’s ability to manage food aid effectively and efficiently.What We Recommend We suggest that responsible officials at the Department of State enforce contract requirements for food aid storage at the Houston warehouses and establish procedures to ensure that the warehouse contractor maintains accurate inventory records.