Washington DC - A senior official in President Donald Trump's administration admitted on Wednesday that the closure of USAID was to blame for the waste of nearly 500 tons of emergency food intended for hungry children.

There are plans to incinerate the high-energy biscuits, intended as emergency food for malnourished young children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, after they passed their July expiration date in a warehouse in Dubai.

Under questioning by lawmakers, Michael Rigas, the deputy secretary of state in charge of management and resources, tied the decision to the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, which closed its doors on July 1.

"I think that this was just a casualty of the shutdown of USAID," Rigas said, adding that he was "distressed" that the food went to waste.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has slashed more than 80% of US foreign assistance, claiming it does not meet core American interests, and put remaining USAID functions under the State Department.

The Atlantic reported Monday that the US bought the biscuits near the end of Joe Biden's administration for around $800,000 and that another $130,000 in taxpayer money will be spent to destroy the food.

Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said lawmakers had specifically raised the issue of the food with Rubio in March.

"Sometimes the tiniest detail really exposes the soul," Kaine said. "A government that is put on notice – here are resources that will save 27,000 starving kids, can you please distribute them or give them to someone who can?"

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He continued: "Who decides, no, we would rather keep the warehouse locked, let the food expire, and then burn it?"

Rigas responded by saying that the US remained the world's largest donor and insisted that he wanted "to find out what happened here and get to the ground truth."

The long-time Trump ally has also supervised hundreds of layoffs at the State Department as part of far-right billionaire Elon Musk's campaign to dismantle large swathes of the administrative state.