PORTLAND — Oregon Food Bank CEO Susannah Morgan said this week the nonprofit would no longer participate in the $4 billion federal Farmers-to-Families Food Box program, in part because the U.S. Department of Agriculture now mandates that food boxes include a “promotional letter” from President Donald Trump.

Morgan’s statement, posted on the food bank’s site, has since been removed.

Morgan offered a list of reasons for the decision, such as that the final phase of the program requires “pre-set boxes that include frozen food” regardless of a recipient’s needs or a distribution site’s capacity.

She also pointed out that the Trump administration has “demanded that food boxes include a promotional letter from the president of the United States that congressional leaders have described as ‘inappropriate and a violation of federal law.’ Though these concerns focus largely on the federal Hatch Act, there are real questions as to whether food-assistance organizations can ethically distribute such a message with an election looming in mere weeks.”

Politico reported Thursday, Oct. 1, that the Agriculture Department “last week began mandating that millions of boxes of surplus food for needy families include a letter from President Donald Trump claiming credit for the program.” The move has made some organizations across the country wary of distributing the boxes, concerned that doing so would be unethical or would violate the Hatch Act, an 80-year-old law that prohibits federal government employees from engaging in political activity.

The Farmers-to-Families Food Box Program launched in April as part of the federal coronavirus pandemic relief package. The program will end Oct. 31.

The Oregon Food Bank said it would not be taking part in the final phase of the federal food box program. Lakewood Department of Human Services

than a week before the election. The reason for it shutting down, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said last month: “We want to let the market work and get back to normal.”