Northwest Harvest Food Banks Win in Potato Loss

Washington food banks are benefiting from a business accident involving 46,000 pounds of dehydrated mashed potatoes.

After the container filled with the dehydrated potatoes fell off a truck last week on their way to Seattle for shipment to Japan, the insurance company told Willette’s Towing of Cle Elum to simply dispose of the contents.

But The Yakima Herald-Republic reports the workers didn’t want to throw so much food away. So they donated the dehydrated potatoes, still intact in 22-pound bags, to Northwest Harvest. The food distributor serves more than 350 food banks across Washington.

A community engagement coordinator at Northwest Harvest’s warehouse in Yakima says the dehydrated potatoes will be very welcome at the state’s food banks because they have a good shelf life.