Alvin Aguayo
Critics had lined up for hours as C.D.C. Eats canceled its all-corked-food promotion.
The U.S. Agency for International Development called off its dairy- and cheese-tasting event after a “huge outcry from local residents, many of whom were fed up with the line-ups, complete with long lines of people who have to wait an hour just to walk across the street to Eats,’ officials said in a statement.
“Despite attempting to reschedule the promotion, we’ve decided we can’t risk the safety of participants, spectators and the neighborhood as a whole,” spokeswoman Melissa Konkol said.
C.D.C. Eats, held for the past three years in Braddock, opened in December at a new location in Dobbins Circle. The private, nonprofit organization which provides health care to families in the U.S. and overseas, had canceled the event for fear of people being sickened from the cheese-tasting and other items on display.
In a letter to the city and county this week, Eats officials said they were grateful that the government bailed, according to the USAToday.com website.
The industry group, according to the report, said it supports the cheese-tasting promotion, even if they are moving it outside of town. But it did not want to risk taking place in places where there would be long lines and even buildings turned into a human shopping mall.
Konkol also addressed remarks by Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pa., who called the cheese tasting a “food-snobfest.”
“We will work with Congressman Brady to make this event a success again,” Konkol said.