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A major U.S. city is banning the private sector from donating food to homeless shelters, as a public policy organization says the city and its leaders have replaced common sense with political correctness.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (D) administration is now banning all food being offered to the city’s homeless shelters. In conjunction with a mayoral task force, the Department of Health and the Department of Homeless Services have recently begun enforcing new nutritional rules for food served at city shelters.

Officials with the Department of Homeless Services contend the ban is consistent with Mayor Bloomberg’s emphasis on “improving nutrition for all New Yorkers.” Jeff Stier, director of the risk analysis division at The National Center for Public Policy Research, however, says it is the nanny state at its worst.

“The recipients, the beneficiaries, or as some here might call them, ‘victims,’ have so much appreciated not only the food, but the gesture of people from the community including them and caring for them,” Stier notes. “And the mayor is saying, no — you’re only going to eat the institutional food that we provide. That’s outrageous!”

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