Visitor numbers at Minnesota hunger relief sites are keeping a record-breaking pace, and a new state law provides flexibility when accessing a key source of nutrition. Starting this month, food shelves across the state can accept donated eggs past their quality assurance date, with 30 days as the cutoff point. Before the law change, these sites had to throw out eggs once they reached their “sell by” date. Dan Narr with the I-C-A Food Shelf in the Twin Cities West Metro says there’s a grace period to safely eat eggs, and this move eases pressure on households struggling with high grocery costs.
“You can have a healthy choice through eggs that is there to be able to help bridge the gap between the people who can’t afford to buy a lot of the meat have an opportunity to get that protein,” said Narr.
In addition to the 30 day limit, these eggs must be in their original packaging and kept under continuous refrigeration. A July report from the Food Group says there were more than nine million visits to Minnesota food shelves last year, a record number for the state.
Minnesota News Connection