In a time when people are trying to make ends meet and food pantries are seeing more and more people in need, thousands of pounds of food from a grocery store is going to a landfill.

The store was hit by a smoky fire.

But there are differing versions between city health inspectors and the store's owner whether any of the food could've been salvaged.

The fire took place at the Sack-n-Save store on Highway 67 in south Oak Cliff on Tuesday.

Load after load, pallet after pallet of food and beverages got tossed into dumpsters from the Sack-n-Save store today on Red Bird Lane.

The store is in a shopping center owned by Ralph Isenberg who said he couldn't believe what he saw.

"It is an absolute shame to me that you've got to throw away tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands dollars worth, of food," he said.

A smoky fire broke out at the full service Sack-n-Save that's owned by Minyard.

A Minyard spokesman says company executives discussed salvaging canned goods and other food that might be saved to donate to charity.

But the spokesman says the City of Dallas gave the company a directive that "all edible products must be destroyed."

The City says contaminated food must be destroyed but there was no order to destroy all food.

The City says that Minyard could turn over food that might be good to a salvage company licensed by the state to judge whether the food is safe and then give it away.

"We are there to assist them and mutually agree on that what can be saved," said Ahsan Khan from Dallas Environmental and Health Services.

But the company says it understood the order was to destroy the food.

Further, Minyard says its insurer took control of store contents once Minyard filed the damage claim.

Everyone agrees it's a delicate balance between protecting the public from bad food and wanting to feed those in need.

E-mail bwatson@wfaa.com.