Is it valid to give zakah in foodstuffs?

Question:
Your Eminence the Shaykh! The questioner asks: Is it valid to give zakah in foodstuffs? I receive zakah from some of my relatives, and I buy foodstuffs with it and distribute them to the needy and the poor.

Answer:
It is permissible to give zakah in goods, according to the correct view. It is more precise if one gives his zakah in goods, for the recipient may not be good at managing money. If you give them cash, they may waste it or spend it on what is not appropriate. If you give them in exchange clothing, or grains like rice or other things, or dates, all of this is good. However, one should strive to make it worth its value or more, its value in silver and gold or more, so as not to undervalue the zakah. It may be that women are not good at managing it, or orphans, so one gives them goods. But the agent is not to act on his own; the agent does not dispose of it. If he is given cash, he gives out cash, except with the permission of the one who gave it to him. If they authorize him to buy foodstuffs with it, there is no harm. Otherwise, he does not dispose of it. If he is given zakah cash, he gives it out in cash. But if he says, "I will buy food with it and give it to the poor," and they authorize him, there is no harm. Yes.