This sort of selfish reasoning--"but but but what about the poors that might somehow abuse the system"--is cancerous, and you sir or madam are a shitty person for suggesting it.
Does everyone do this? No. Do enough people do it to force these sorts of rules to be put in place? Yes.
Why not let people buy the "waste" food at the purchase cost? Or just you know, fire the people who waste it on purpose for misconduct?
I'm not homeless, though, and it's pretty annoying that one can't take a nap in the afternoon because of this.
People aren't shitty just to be shitty--there's usually a reason they find themselves taking advantage of a system.
Random example: at my previous job, people would book more expensive travel options (on the company's dime) so that they could accumulate (personal) frequent flyer miles on their preferred airline. And they were all making 6-figure salaries.
Eh, especially in the service industry I have found this untrue. Nowhere near a majority of people are shitty just to be shitty, but it really only takes a few.
The parent commenter is not even the one making up the reason. She/he is simply explaining the reason why such a policy commonly exists.
FWIW, most places also allow the workers to eat the food before/during/after they work there.
Your observation even confirms as much--and friends who've worked at places like Panera and Starbucks (bringing home extra baked goods) somehow manaage to not hoard everything to the detriment of the business.
1. there are rules about how much stuff you can take home at close to prevent abuse
2. people still abused it
If you say no to that you might actually be the first person that "check your privledge" would non ironically apply to that I have met.
Wow. Just wow.