I think that's sad, too. A few years ago at a company Christmas party (which was catered), there was a ton of food left over. My husband and I had them wrap the leftovers up in aluminum foil containers, and promptly delivered the warm food over to the nearest shelter. It was a very cold night that night, as I recall. The people running the shelter were a bit confused at first, but they let us bring the food into the kitchen area, and they reheated and served it. I'm glad we weren't given a citation for it, and I doubt that anyone got sick from it. It was delicious, but too much had been ordered. Seems like sometimes bureacrats get caught up in a bunch of legal BS.
My firm routinely throws away vast quantities of expensive catered food - we tried to donate it, but it's not acceptable. Something about us not being a food-service company, so they can't be sure we've followed food-safety practices.